We recently attended a concert for the Seva Foundation celebrating over 30 years of service programs worldwide.. This wonderful organization was started in 1978 and, most notably, has been responsible for over 3 million blind people seeing again through cataract surgery.
It was quite a celebration – Bonnie Rait, Jackson Browne, Crosby and Nash, Los Lobos, and Elvis Costello all were in the line-up. The host of the program was Wavy Gray – that fellow who made the famous announcement at Woodstock, “What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000.” Wavy and many of the performers have been supporters of Seva for many years – Wavy was one of the founders of Seva.
The theme running through the night was simple. People can make a difference. Over the years, one person at a time, Seva has helped people. As Wavy Gravy puts it, 3 million eyeballs. No matter what else was going on in the world, Seva made a difference by simply persisting. 3 million people with barely enough to eat and no access to medical care, now can see again and go on with their lives because of a simple operation. And, the benefits extend farther than just the one person whose eyesight was restored, plus the ‘giver’ receives much in return as well, As only Wavy could put it - you “get a great a buzz” when you help people. Quite a testament to the 'power to the people' slogans of the 60's.
One highlights of the night was a point in Bonnie Rait’s performance when she also had Jackson Browne, David Crosby, and Graham Nash out on the stage. There was a lot of grey hair up there on the stage and, for that matter, in the audience too. It felt a bit like a reunion of the 60’s folks, checking in after all these years. Everyone had gone off and lived their lives, doing some good in their own ways, and here we all were back together to celebrate a bit what we’ve accomplished. Actor Peter Coyote who hosted part of the evening put it best, “You gotta admit, the hippies did it right.”
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