April 12: A "blue marble" moment

I just finished watching Bocelli's gift perfomance at Milan's Duomo, and I'm still wiping tears off my eyes. This was loaded with emotion for me. My city of birth. A city where most of my beloved relatives still live. A cathedral I have often been in and always inspired by, in appreciation of every person's longing for something "larger" than themselves. And here is a man, blind, unable to see the emptiness of the square in front of him (see the tiny figure in front of the Duomo), but certainly able to feel it. A beautiful voice, singing on behalf of humanity... to hope and unity. I was suddenly struck by how this felt to me like a new "blue marble" moment, when astronauts on the moon looked up and, for the first time, saw our beautiful Earth, our home, in the sky. If there is a silver lining to this pandemic it may well be a powerful and hopefully lasting reminder of our common humanity.

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