Many moons ago I dropped my daughter–aged about 16–off at Carnegie Hall for a Harry Chapin concert. We–my wife and I– later went to pick her up and the concert was still on—long after it should have been over. I heard the end of it. It amazed me.
Harry then stayed to autograph T shirts (the proceeds went to WHY–his organization.. He stayed over 2 hrs doing that—we came back then and found he was still there with any of the audience (mostly young people) who wanted to talk with him and get a T shirt–and help WHY.
At that point I knew that I had been in the presence of a true human being—“mensch” is the Yiddish expression that cannot be truly translated.
Now I have a radio show (WFDU Teaneck NJ )—and Harry and his music is one of the things I want to keep alive for future generations. I did a 3 hr program on his music on the sad anniversary of his death a few years ago.
If I can say one thing about him that affected me more than anything else—that night at Carnegie Hall—He awakened me .
Bill Hahn
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