Why?

~ Live & Learn

harry-belafonte

“I often look at the journey, and I don’t get it…I really don’t. I have lasted longer than I understand why. I often feel that there must have been something that I should’ve done that I didn’t do. But I can’t identify what it is that I didn’t do… This is not modesty. This is part of a bigger search for me. What was all this about? Why?”

~ Harry Belafonte, Harry Belafonte Knows a Thing or Two About New York. The city native, about to turn 90, looks back at a glorious past and wonders what his next act will be. He was born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr., and dropped out of school in ninth grade, frustrated by what was later recognized as dyslexia. He was working as a janitor’s assistant when a customer gave him tickets to an American Negro Theater production, and when he volunteered to help as a handyman, he soon found himself onstage with Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis and Mr. Poitier.

Photo of Belafonte from Kate Wolf Music Festival

22 thoughts on “Why?”

  1. My parents introduced us to the magic of Harry Belafonte when we were little – I think I still have albums of theirs. He is an icon – for values I admire as well as his prodigious talent.

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  7. Maybe there’s no Why to answer. Maybe it’s not about doing, but about Being. About accepting life on its own terms. About living, enjoying being in a body on Planet Earth. With all due respect to our fellow creatures and the planet. Aloha, David!

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