The MTV awards were just announced and this is nominated in the "Breakthrough Video" categgory, along w/ Eminem, "Mosh" Gorillaz, "Feel Good Inc.", Missy Elliott "Lose Control" & U2, "Vertigo". (Complete Award List)

... remember when breakthrough was something truly original like "Lucas with the Lid Off"?

at any rate, this is an interesting video...

         

Great idea!

         

I say bullcrap idea, people have been doing this for years. It'd really be breakthrough if it presented a philosophy that showed WHY anyone should care. Is the answer to shame viewers in order to produce a "difference" through guilt? Is it to enlighten people about how little it takes? I say that little means NOTHING. If people wanted the world changed, it would be that way, bottom line. I'm not saying that the 5 cents that kept that kid alive didn't make a difference, I'm saying that millions more have died because this crap DOESN'T WORK. Like virtually everyone who create this inequality by subconsciously (or consciously) affirming the current economic system, this video only works to re-inforce the populus's never-ending cycle of apathy. Lead the horses to water, or stop wasting everyone's time, unless that is of course your real purpose. I hope she sold her lipstick and eyeshadow.

         

I hear yah Vijay. I never saw this. I guess its been out for some time now. My friend told me they actually made 2 videos for this and the other one cost 100 gees. So yeah basically this doesnt solve the problems in Africa and it sucks to diss the music video industry. She should give all her album sales to Africa too.

         

I guarantee this video cost more than $15. All that after effects stuff? you kidding me???? huh? huh?

         

she's a f***ing hypocrit.

         

While theres not doubt there one could construe the video as self righteous, theres this thing called awareness. My complaint is that video is just poorly done. Some of the these comments are just way of base. Im not sure why its Sarah Ms job to donate her album profits or to fix the worlds problems. Theres no doubt a music video doesnt fix the world. But perhaps its a piece to the puzzle. Instead of being rude and slamming her why don'y people come up with more creative approaches to criticize the videos failures. And anyone who has the nerve to dis other peoples attempts to make wrong right no matter how self obsesses their mission....come on ask yourself what youve done lately to make anything a better for anyone else.

         

Well I am helping people here and around me that work with me with food shelter and clothes. If things go well hopefully I can get artists some Blue Cross too.;) And don't say people get paid to much because its all relative to the society. But I think some of the problems in Africa stem from over population. Basiclly they need to stop making so many babies. But that might be a too politaclly incorrect for the norms.

Her profits from record sells are much greater than anybodies rates on a $150,000 video. How about instead of making movies, records and video games we just give that money to Africa. That wouldn't werk because if we did that there wouldnt be any profits to make these things in the first place. Go figure.

         

What a load of shit. That clip is about as original as those videos whrere they scroll a bunch of gay "did you know?" style facts across the screen. It's been done so many times. Anyway, how much does she spend making those shithouse records of hers. There's just as much or as little relevance in music videos as there is in music, they're both just creative ways to waste time.

         

This is insulting on so many levels. It’s not a ‘great idea'; it is another rich rock star telling us to donate money. It perpetuates the lie that people in developing countries are just the victims of drought and war, their problems solved by sending a few bags of rice or inoculating a few kids every few years.

         

It is a cynical video, but it's hard to argue with anyone making a $150k donation to charity. I do have an issue with being patronised like I'm a moron in a 3 minute commercial for the music industry's goodly righteousness though. Banks, airlines, governments, oil companies and coffee brands have all been known to employ similar tactics in their advertising.

The hard cost may have been $15, but if that's true, then a lot of people donated their time and energy to conceptualise, edit, animate, write the captions, source and licence all those clips, duplicate it to digibetas for broadcast, promote, market and distribute.

If her next three videos take the same kind of line, I'll start to believe it.

         

The sentiment, that needs to be echoed here is The laughable attempt of idiotic pop stars, appealing for debt relief, to Thug politicians, who swagger across the globe like gangsters

Let me reiterate, the immortal words of arse brained Blair "The Bombing of Iraq was an act of humanity"

Well I for one! object to, being made into a human sandbag, to protect such acts of humanity I would have thought, its common knowledge, what is, the likely outcome , if you stick your snout into a hornets nest!

Besides as stated before my posting, wad the fuck is a few squillion, gleaned from the punters, by rock/pop stars gonna do! It just prolongs the agony It can't change a rotten system!

         

Beyond just the regular old hypocracy, this video made me mad way back when, when it first came out, because it's attacking an already struggling industry. Yes, let's pick on the grips and production assistants who can't get jobs because the music video industry is hurting so much, by making them look like ruthless money grubbing fiends who would like nothing better than to horde their large piles of money instead of helping poor children. In her next video, I'm hoping she goes after all of those people who have been laid off from factories: "It costs $100 dollars a day to keep an auto worker in Detroit employed. Wouldn't that money be better spent on things that I, The Great McLachlan, have some fleeting interest in?"

All around, it's demeaning to anyone in the business, benign in its message, and has been done to death from commercials to countless other music videos.

         

wow so many points made...

I think it's neat because this stuff isn't on TV and no one here would be 15 feet in front of a Sarah McLachlan video.

As a "commercial", howe

I've always disagreed with people who think musicians/actors have no place expressing their political beliefs. How is Chris Martin or Sarah McLachlan any less qualified than TV pundits like Geraldo Rivera? There are so many idiot pundits on cable news; expressing political beliefs has NEVER been exclusive to intellectuals.

hakai: Re: so-called African overpopulation.

• North America - 32 people per square mile
• South America - 73 people per square mile
• Europe - 134 people per square mile
• Asia - 203 people per square mile
• Africa - 65 people per square mile
• Australia - 6.4 people per square mile

What, do you think AIDS is a good thing for "solving" this?

Re: sdelhoyde: this plea for the jobs of PAs reminds me of that stunt guy who comes in front of movies and tells people not to download cause it's hurting the industry.

         

I don’t live in the US, but it seems that Geraldo Rivera has been in journalism and punditry for quite some time unlike that sanctimonious twat Chris Martin. Ok, so that doesn’t make his opinion more or less valid than anyone else’s, but it has reminded me that a reporter from the Telegraph has released a single called “People I don’t know are trying to kill me” in the wake of July 7th. Seriously, I think there’s a lesson for us all here.

         

captainmarc22, there is obviously a reason why they all have Aids. Maybe the Goverment gave it to them or maybe an Alien did it. They need to stop having kids that are born with Aids and can't eat. If they had any kind of education they wouldn't just go poke some hot African to have a baby thats born dead. This is the core of the problem. Your poplution stats mean nothing. Square miles are so relative to the size of the country or region. Africa and Europe aren't the same size. Its all math dude

         

haika: 'Africa and Europe aren't the same size" - yeah - but Asia is a much bigger than Africa.

Look at India - a developing country, but 8+% GDP growth and millions of people being pulled out of poverty. It is much more densely populated than anywhere in Africa.

Your "overpopulation is the problem" theory is ridiculous. Hit the books, man.

         

Seriously its education. I said that. Its education and mating. Believe that! don't be so thick. India is doing well because they are educating themselves. Same thing with China. You must think its ok to have 10 kids. Well I dont.

BTW captain, your so smart what do u think the problem in Africa is? You think that 150,000 did anything but diss the music video industry?

         

OK OK OK OK...I just want to say a few things. For one its great that every is exchanging opinions. However at the end of the day we are talking about a video that I think we all agree is technically not so hot and not so creative. Yes it plays a bit like preachy telethon sort of guilt trip. And yes the thought of it getting any kind of nomination is a bit lame.

We are all well entitled ot our opinions... but Im reading things about Geraldo Rivera (a cartoon of a journalist pig on fox news) and weather he has more right to opinion that say Coldplay or U2 etc etc. This is just getting stupid. Bottom line Bono gets kind of annoying with the Jesus complex but he still is very responsible for spreading good. End of point. Last time I checked Bob Marley had been a musician not a pundit or a politician. Somehow he is single handedly responsible for raisng awareness of issues in Africa.

I think its very sad that we have some very creative people talking about how Africans should mate less cause thats the source of their problem. I cant believe that some people who are so privledged as to make a career shooting music videos have such simplistic narrow minded racist views of other peoples suffering ....kind of obsurd

         

Whats racists about it? I dont think white people should have 10 kids either and feed there kids meth.

quixoticnyc, be careful calling people racist. you have no idea.

         

"While theres not doubt there one could construe the video as self righteous, theres this thing called awareness."

Awareness in what sense? In that there are people out there who are suffering and dying that need help? All the video is doing is making people aware of our differences from them, not our similarities, and NOT why we should care. It is propaganda and it is leading people AWAY from any real answer. Why doesn't she tackle the economic issues that this solves and creates. Like someone said, what about the out of work grips? This is the same problem with affirmative action, SOMEBODY always gets left out without a good reason. The answer is with changing the entire system so that all things are done in the interest of everyone.

"Im not sure why its Sarah Ms job to donate her album profits or to fix the worlds problems."

It's her job she's MAKING IT HER JOB. If she's supposed to be this saving grace or such a caring person, then she's the one who's gonna have to draw the line. If her answer is to give what she has, then she's gonna have to answer where to stop, and who dies because she wants her hair done. She's not accepting that responsibility. Why isn't there a title card in the video saying I don't want people to die or something, atleast then it'd be honest on a certain level even if it's not philosophically backed.

"Theres no doubt a music video doesnt fix the world."

Why can't it, if it's truly a great work of art. Why should anyone strive to make anything less?

"Instead of being rude and slamming her why don'y people come up with more creative approaches to criticize the videos failures."

Like I said, a WHY we should care would fix everything. If she doens't have it, maybe she shouldn't be so wreckless, rampant, and selfish. The reason this video exists is to appease her own egoistical desires, not out of any type of real love. It's like the girl on tiny toons who hugs all the animals even when they really don't want it, her philosophy is demeaning to us and the people she's trying to help (but they probably don't care either as long as they get what they want just like the people over here).

I've done as much as I possibly can by living in a philosophy that does take into account what everyone wants because I understand that we are all connected, over time as well. I do care and am willing to change the system, but I don't think everyone else is, and the fact of the matter is that we all have a say in it, whether we are conscious of it or not.

         

"However at the end of the day we are talking about a video that I think we all agree is technically not so hot and not so creative."

At the end of the day, people are dying, inequality exists, and people are abusing each other whether we are making videos or not. Whatever reason it is that you don't see that as the main point of everything is the reason why it exists.

         

None of us will ever know what its like to be born in a third world country and endure third world issues. When we simplify that their issues are rooted in them having sex, we open all sorts of other conversations. Im not sure if you guys are aware of how many of the US supported Aids med programs work. Maybe you've heard abstinance only programs. These are programs where people like the Bush administration want to tell people not to have sex. Abstain. Despite human nature, they are trying to spread the ideology "dont have sex dont use condoms." They also have genius ideas like help the pharmaceutical insutry sell AIDS drugs for US prices in Africa. My point is that these are sensitive issues and rather complex ones. For someone in the states who im pretty sure doesnt relate to 3rd world life to simplify the way ive seen some people on here do... well thats is pretty close to racist and also just shows a very limited perspective insentive perspective.

Again I have to point out. Id have nothing wrong with never hearing another Sarah M song in my life. Shes been writing the same song for 10 yrs.

But I think there has been a lot of sensitivy against her video for 2 major reasons. The first, that the whole cost breakdown approach of the music video world seems to be an attack on some level against what we all do and love (make videos). I think that the whole video while poorly done, is to say this is how we often spend X amount of dollars without even really considering its value elsewhere. And shes right. All of us take small things for granted. We look at others misfortunes and say thats sucks. Let me reitterate I dont think she was very successful at getting a message across. Its rather vapid. I also think that I a fan of Rage Against the Machine and a leftist... found that when I worked on the "Sleep Now in The Fire" video it was pretty vapid. Often the hardest thing for creative people to do is make a statement. Its a lot easier to just use creative expression to make eye or ear candy.

I think the second reason people are reacting so poorly is because there this a consensus that maybe musicians shouldnt do anything but play music because if they do they are only fulfilling a self righteous act which is really about album sales. Im not sure thats really fair.

Here are a few more interesting questions for you guys that relate. Live 8 or the original Live Aid ....do these events and gathers have any value?

         

Vijay...

"At the end of the day, people are dying, inequality exists, and people are abusing each other whether we are making videos or not. Whatever reason it is that you don't see that as the main point of everything is the reason why it exists."

Im really not sure what you are getting at here... I think Ive obviously pointed out that at the end of the day this is just a video and the world has far more pressing issues. Perhaps you could explain why you are trying to say. Thnx

         

I like what you've just said quixoticnyc. I am really sad for those children in Africa. Thats why I think the elders should think before havng a kid. Why raise a kid in that enviroment. I have a hard time convincing myself that raising a kid in LA is good. I dont know. I dont think things are gonna get any better. America is going to fall, Chinas going to start World War 3 and Aids is going to wipe out the human race.

         

"Chinas going to start World War 3"

Think u mean World War 4 and it'll be the good ol' USA that starts it! A last gasp attempt to preserve its position and privilege

         

WORLD WAR 5 WHATEVER. YEAH FUCKING USA!

         

quixoticnyc hits it right on the nose. Not only does the video serve up a plate of wishy-washy sentiment, it also directly attacks the industry that helps her spread her messages. I'd have no issue (beyond, again, the wishy-washy sentiment) if she'd said, "We Americans and Europeans spend too much money on junk while all these people around the world are starving." So general and pointless, it would have the effect of a million Bono-types saying the same thing.

But to direct it at a specific industry, one that helped launch her into the position she's in now, is just jaw-droppingly awful. To hone her focus in the way she has, it makes the music video business look like a bunch of poor-hating devils. "The same money that goes to feed AIDS-stricken babies is being ripped from their hands and being given to music video producers! Oh, won't someone please think of the children!" It's as if you had some famous movie actress who went on a crusade against companies that make 35mm cameras.

I know none of this is the most important thing in the world, but it still stings. All the more so now that it's being further recognized and will garner more attention to her off-putting opinion that we're all mustachioed villains.

         

Hakai...I go about it a bit different but I see eye to eye with you on several points here. I have zero in interest in kids..lucky my girl is on the same level. I think part it has alot to do with living in nyc the last 10 yrs the administration in power. Etc etc. So I relate Im not sure I'll want to bring a kid into the world. I don't think we'll wake up with the world fixed tomorrow. And its amazing when we realize that we are in another vietnam that history often repeats itself.

All that said... I think that if Sarah M really did take the actual prod budget and donated it to a well respected organization we have to consider this. It may have clothed a child in fresh clothes. Provided fresh water or even provided medication and therefore helped a few people get through another day. None of us really can relate so we shouldnt underestimate or diss the power of providing for others. I agree tomorrow the kids will still be starving and have AIDs.

In terms of the mating issue... maybe this is sort of relevant. I watch the WTC fall right in front me. Flash forward Patriot Act..flash forward July in London Bombs flash forward NYPD is now searching our bags before we get on trains. Its a blatant privacy issue and the ACLU is gonna be all over it. So I think about the government telling me I dont have privacy. Or perhaps the government telling Gay people that having gay sex is illegal like they tried in texas last yr. The imagine telling people in Africa who may not have much some love that they shouldnt have sex. Seems like something we wouldnt. What if I told you no more sex. You cant have it.??? Education is the key, And they are hardly being fed yet alone getting an education. I think we also might want to look at Rawanda in Africa. System Rape and murder...rape sure does account for alot of babies,,,remember they dont abortion as much of an option.

Im only aiming to point out Africa is a very complicated issue. And its def true that there are lots of things to feel negative about. But WWIII is on the rise and were all gonna get AIDS what do we do. Maybe we should just be pessimistic and make music videos?

         

BTW HAkai... I assume you are the same Artificial Army thats at Refused TV... nice job on the Volta Vids.... thought Id lighten things up

         

I agree again. And wouldn't it have been far more honorable to simply have donated all of the money, including the $15 she spent on this cheap video, and never said anything about it? Instead, she's using her supposed holier-than-thou appearance as nothing more than an inexpensive marketing gimmick.

         

I MUST ADD ....BOY DO I APOLOGIZE FOR HAVING AWFUL GRAMMAR ! :)

         

I agree 150k + $15 wouldve been awesome...but if it wasnt for a video that could sell albums the label never wouldve given it to her....

can I ask that we have 30 comment replies for videos maybe an indie band or two or perhaps an unestablished persons work...might be cooler if we can give some good criticism to each others work.... Fuck Sarah M...isnt she Canadian anyhow ....Just kidding

         

(crikey, Sophie Muller managed to slip the net in this discussion!)

         

"All that said... I think that if Sarah M really did take the actual prod budget and donated it to a well respected organization we have to consider this. It may have clothed a child in fresh clothes. Provided fresh water or even provided medication and therefore helped a few people get through another day."

This is totally acknowledged as in my original post, but is it the answer to the "problems" or is it just a way for the people who give to feel good about themselves? What is the underlying truth that this is based on? I'm not saying that I'm against any of these things I'm about to list, but in order to get at what's real, one must consider these possibilities: Why should should they have food, water, education, or even live? Why are these things valuable to the "giver"? Is it because a person knows that those things are good for others in an ultimate sense, or because he/she is taking their "goodness" for granted because if they were in a similar situation that's what they'd would want. To me it seems to be a completely reflexive desire, and thus not truly a caring thing. Yes, things would get done (supplies would be given etc) but the real purpose is to satiate the giver. In most cases the person who gets it also sees things similarly. Ahem, diagram:

giver wants>>>>>|<<<<<reciever wants

The tangible effect is what's in the middle (food,water), but there is no real connection between the two. In order to solve this problem, there has to be a level of understanding on both sides perhaps looking like this

giver wants<><><>|<><><>reciever wants

People are only truly connected through the truth, and the real way to change things is to acknowlege the reasons why things should be the way they want them to be. Here's a quote I've recently read that I agree with and might help:

"Love is a state of Being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you. It is not dependent on some other body, some external form. In the stillness of your presence, you can feel your own formless and timeless reality as the unmanifested life that animates your physical form. You can then feel the same life deep within every other human and every other creature. You look beyond the veil of form and seperation. This is the realization of oneness. This is love."

         

PS every video has politics of their own, so you could just as easily relate what's going on here to anything. Is the goal to sustain a fantasy or to get at what's real? Artistic success can be determined by judging how aligned the work is to either of those things.

         

it is interesting/sad to read some of these opinions from American citizens, and other fellow developed nations that are regarded as over-consumers. I think this is a valuable video that raises valid questions. In terms of its artistic execution, the message it is projecting is so serious, I feel it is not that important to take the production value overly seriously. I do feel it raises great issues, there are so many non-worthy, glossy music videos and feature films, that really are a waste of resources, when there are so many people suffering in the world it really just seems wrong and misguided. But it is obviously not just the film industry that should be targeted as being self-indulgent, ignorant and creators of meaningless unsustainable things. The contrast in extreme wealth and the poor, and the ignorance displayed to the poor, is the major political issue now, and for this millenium.

         

Well, by that regard, nicod, isn't the music industry just as self-indulgent, ignorant, and the creator of meaningless, unsustainable things? And by the highly generalized level of evaluation you're using, doesn't that stand for nearly every industry, from cookie manufacturing to your local opera house? We certainly don't need either of those, as they've never provided us with anything tangible in the poor-helping sense.

The production values were never an issue here, it's the pandering, the attacks at the industry, and the emptiness of her message that a lot of us had problems with. Sure, it's nice to say, "People are poor! We should do something!" and think that has any substantial value to it, but in this case, many of us felt that she was using this "message" to promote herself, while simultaniously using an industry that helped create her as the scape goat.

         

yes indeed, the music industry is symbiotic with the music video business, and is mostly just as meaningless, self-indolgent and hendonistic. In regards to other industries, it is not a matter of being justified by being completely "tangible in the poor helping sense" but maintaining a sense of purpose in light, and in context of what is happening in the world: There is no sustainability in living in ignorance.

In regards to this video, it is particularly negative and skeptical to simply think this was a marketing strategy for her to boost her music/profile. She put her money where her mouth is, and $150,000 is substantial in anyone's language.

         

Couldn't agree with you more about needing an escape from the bubble. I just think there are better ways of going about it, or rather, I may not know all the better ways, but surely there must be. It's a weak message just to tell us that there are problems in the world, things we've heard within the bubble our whole lives. Leaves an audience more numb to the problems than encouraging them to go out and fix things. Giving people advice on what can be done and who can help is far better than being critical of things they enjoy and trying to cajole guilt.

And yes, I understand that there were probably good intentions to this video, and it wasn't a concept dreamed up by the heartlessly greedy, but because the message is so ineffectively presented, it comes across as nothing more than another vapid, Bono-esque piece of futility. And because we the audience have nothing of value to cling to, we're left with the intended message being lost, and in it's place, we have nothing more than, "Hey, Sarah McLachlan really is a caring and considerate person. I like her a lot." instead of, "Holy hell, there's a lot of problems in this world that need fixing! I'm going to go out and try to see if I can help!" This video works under the guise of being socially responsible, but is about nothing more than Sarah McLachlan trying to get people to like Sarah McLachlan.

The fact that she lists where the donations went also hurts the credibility and lends itself back to my theories of this being a big marketing tool. I said it before somewhere here a few days back that the honorable thing to have done would have been to make the donation and say nothing about it. There's a biblical passage about that somewhere isn't there (and probably within every other religious group)? About how charity isn't something that should be done in the interest of the person giving. Using charity to help sell records, in my mind, helps fuel this meaningless and self-indulgent record industry you're claiming to rally against.

Again: "Isn't that Sarah McLaclan a wonderful person who really cares!" not "We should make some changes in the world."

         

this is fantastic discussion guys. good thoughts.

         

It's really difficult to get through everything everyone has said about something as trivial as a music video, but I like some of the points of how in order to help other nations, you need to provide education so that they understand their plight and do something to overcome it. I think the core answer to 99% of the world's problems would be resolved if everyone everywhere finished high school and went on to college. Then there was the argument about not doing enough. There are many sides to look at things. You could say that by being a secretary at some corporation, you are doing something that somehow will benefit someone somewhere. It's all a matter of how you look at life.
Then there is the fact that many people will say that you're not doing enough. Well, my friend, it's really hard when many of the relief and charitable organizations can't be trusted or don't do enough of what you feel would actually make a difference. I believe that we can't do everything for them. I believe that it takes time. People are impatient and want quick fixes. That is just selfish and ignorant, but then human nature is to be selfish and ignorant. If only we could rise above our own human nature, then we could see real change in the world. Personally, I've been to Afghanistan. I've see what they have and heard what they want. They need to the opportunity to build their own lives and do what is best for everyone around them. The more we feed them and do things for them, the less likely they are to ever become self-sufficient and if they can't ever be self-sufficient, they might as well be part of the US permanently. Of course, such a notion is unthinkable. So we may just continue to run ourselves in circles the more we we try to do things for them and don't help people to learn and overcome on their own. As for over population and problems that are inherant with that -- well, we will just have to see. Again, education, I can't say it enough. There are different sides to the argument. If you want an example of population control, look at China and see how they are doing. Billions of men, only a few women. I don't like those odds. Of course, it's communism and a huge restriction of civil rights to tell people they can't have kids. I will never vote for anything that dicourages family and raising children. It's counter-productive. If you're going to go on about the music industries, you ought to understand that it is a very structured and controlled environment. Successes are engineered, not earned. Talent is made, not found. There is hardly anything there that isn't a product of someone's will to shape society according to how they envision it. I know people who have received threats for trying to do anything contrary to what many in the music industry are trying to do. A perfect example is American Idol. You can't get any more rigged than that. They go so far as to decide that they want a certain genre to win because they feel it needs more attention or more followers. So if they choose, before hand, who will win according to how producers and executives would like it to move. It's a sham built to generate publicity and money and to influence the impressionable and uneducated. It is propaganda. Anyway, I was going to say something about how if you really want to make differences in the world, volunteer for something. Who knows where you might go or what you might see or even learn. The best thing for anyone is to get out of our sheltered society we call western philosphy and see what is really going on in the world. I have only visited two 3rd-world countries. I plan to visit others before I'm 40 and with the way current politics are going, and with the war in Iraq, it's hard to tell if I'll get to choose where I go or not. Right now, I just would like to get out of the army and visit South America where I lived for two years and spent time with many of the people there. They aren't as needing as they are in Africa, but they do live humble lives, many of them. As for Afghanistan, I'm not allowed to talk about the things that went on there. I will say that it has a beautiful culture and many historical qualities to it. The people are very kind, but then, I'm American so they were just grateful that I was there because of what we did for them. There is something to be said about a people who would take up arms to protect you because of how much they appreciate all that you do for them. I only hope that we can continue to honor their trust. And the saddest thing about everything that went on there, is that we really are limited in what we can do. I only wish we could do more. Well, I've talked long enough. "What Plato has thought, he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what at any time has be-fallen any man, he can understand. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson