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Today’s offering is a re-run, friends, and I thank you for indulging me.

It first appeared November 5,1970. A half-century ago. As we measure human longevity, that’s a long time.

What was shared then was, well, timeless. See what you think.

Here it is:

The recent Ed Sullivan Show featuring peoples from all around the world was an impressive program indeed. Song and dance in native attire provided a splendid evening’s viewing.

But it was more than entertainment. There was a lesson for each of us who were fortunate enough to see the program. Quite simply, the theme of the entire hour was “love”. The Young Americans were the last group to perform, and they concluded their portion of the show with the song, “What The World Needs Now.” As I’m sure you know, the completion of the opening lines of the song are, “love, sweet love, that’s the only thing there’s too little of.”

Seeing happiness and pride of all of the entertainers was a moving experience. That an American audience could applaud thunderously a Soviet pianist is a healthy thing. Music is truly a universal language.

The oft told story of the Germans and Americans each in their own trenches, singing Silent Night (Stille Nacht), each in their own languages, on a cold Christmas Eve during World War I is significant.

For the finale of the Ed Sullivan Show, all of the performers joined together singing only four words – set to lilting melody – “White, Black, Pink, Yellow.” I’m sure that the impact and charisma of the program is diminished greatly in this inept recounting of it. Those who saw the program know what I’m trying to impart. Those who saw and heard the show, and had no feelings, well… we can’t all respond to the same things.

Aldous Huxley once very eloquently addressed himself to the word “love.” I’d like to share it with you.

“Of all the worn, smudged, dog-eared words in our vocabulary, ‘love’ is surely the grubbiest. Bawled from a million pulpits, lasciviously crooned through hundreds of loud-speakers, it has become an outrage to good taste and decent feeling, an obscenity which one hesitates to pronounce. And yet it has to be pronounced, for after all, Love is the last word.”

It’s something to think about. APROPOS – “To live without

love is not to really live “

– Jean Baptiste Moliere