Harry Chapin - Commitment and Pete Seeger lyrics

I think one of the important points of focus
Is to be able to have that
Sense of the personal, and at the same
Time the larger dimension
The social dimension
The political dimension and that's
One of the things
That we've both been trying to work
At for the past five or six years
It's a tough thing to integrate

The balance, yeah

The strain has been enormous for you
And for me at times but it's
Worth it, because the, the survival of
Civilization, in a sense, is
Is the rеsult when you do this kind of thing

The clearеst version of somebody
Saying that in a way that took it out of
The theoretical and into the practical
And well also that talks about the rewards
Is something Pete Seeger said and I think
Tom was there we were doing a benefit out in
For the theater out in Long Island that I
Support, the Performing Arts Foundation
And Pete every year
Is nice enough to come out and, uh
Do a benefit with us

And Pete said, you know I -
Somebody had asked him and he
Asked him a question about how
He felt about all these
Years of being involved in things like
This - and he sort
Of answered me 'cause he knew
My commitment to things, he says "You
Know, Harry, my involvement in a cause
Benefit, march, or demonstration, uh
I'm not sure it's made a difference"
And here's a guy who's being
Very modest 'cause for forty years he's
Stood up for every major
Issue of our times, since fighting
Fascism in the early forties, late thirties

Uh, but he says, "I can tell you one thing -
That involvement with these issues means
You're involved with the good
People the people
With the live hearts, the live eyes
The live heads"

And, and I mean just think
About it in terms of
Your lives, all those people out
There listening you know
The whole stance of
The music industry during the late seventies
Was "Look at your navel and
Say boogie" and try to get
Some kind of complexity, passion
Excitement out of that

Well, who are the people that are your
Best friends? Who are the people you
Keep coming back to? Who are the
People that make your life worthwhile?
Usually the people who are committed to
Something so in the final analysis
Commitment
In and of it'self, irrespective of whether
You win or not, is
Is something that truly makes
Your life more worthwhile