We Are the World

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Last week, we began to study the song "We Are the World." This song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. USA for Africa is called a "supergroup" because it was made up of people who were already famous. The song soon became an international hit and money from record sales went to help the victims of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia.

I think that the main idea of the song is that when there is a problem or people are in trouble we should do something about it ourselves and not wait for someone else. For example, the following lyrics tell us not to wait for others:

We can't go on
Pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change.

The chorus of the song (the part that is repeated many times) says that "we are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving."

Sometimes we may wait for other people to solve problems because we don't feel that we have enough power to change things ourselves. It's true that the power of a single individual is limited. On the other hand, the lyrics remind us that when many individuals "stand together as one" great things can happen:

Let us realize
That a change can only come
When we stand together as one

Click here to see a YouTube video of this song with English subtitles. To read the lyrics to this song, click here.