Love, Hope & Peace

These words feel like a breath of fresh air after the year we’ve just been through. I might just have easily titled this update: War, Politics & Fear, but that would just be echoing the constant drone of social media that’s been ringing in our ears throughout 2024 and I for one, feel like moving on and changing the channel.

I was rummaging through some old boxes last week and came across a stack of VHS tapes dating back some 30-plus years. We haven’t owned a VHS player for more than a decade, so it seemed time to either chuck out these media relics, or have them digitized to preserve what was on them.

My son, Chris and I have been working for months now on a movie script based upon the Russian adoption story of my youngest daughter (and his youngest sister) Elena. The working title for the movie is BRING HER HOME. I was looking for video footage dating back to 1986. That was the year I purchased my first VHS camcorder and I was hoping to find something on those tapes that could be useful for our research. In addition to several home videos from the time, I came across a cassette labeled, “Elaine – Russian Orphanage Out-takes”. Score! This was a dub of original footage shot by the professional camera crew that accompanied us to Russian. Better still, it indicated these were “out-takes”, clips not used in the edited reports that went to air on the 100 Huntley Street program.

Another VHS referenced a 1986 taping of the African Children’s Choir, performing Peace on Earth. (You can read about the song in the article titled, “The Meeting of 2 Presidents and a Song for Peace”.) I then came across a VHS with the name “John Denver” scribbled on the label. (I had no recollection what that was.)

After sorting through multiple boxes, I settled on 10 tapes that looked interesting and sent them off to a local guy who could transfer the analog tapes to digital for me. Less than a week later, the content was returned to me on a thumb drive. It didn’t disappoint.

The Russian footage was emotional to watch. It was like opening a time capsule. Memories came flooding back in the now primitive 4×3 format in 480p video resolution. Dated, but cool! Note: You can find all four Russian reports in the VIDEO library on this website.

And then there was the transfer of the tape with John Denver’s name on it. Turns out that in the summer of 1986, at United Nations Day at the world exhibition, John was a special guest of the UN and there was a huge crowd in attendance. He introduced my song, Peace on Earth and joined the international choir (made up of participants from 70 nations) to sing it. I was there too, standing arm in arm with the choir. We sang with all our hearts, “Peace on earth, let it be… More than just a dream. Every land from sea to sea, living in harmony!” CLICK HERE to view the video.

A few years later John Denver died tragically in a plane crash in California. The prolific, singer-songwriter of Take Me Home Country Roads, Rocky Mountain High, Sunshine on My Shoulders and Thank God I’m A Country Boy left us far to soon. Few may know that John Denver was also a close friend of President Jimmy Carter, who passed away recently at the age of 100. John campaigned against hunger, was an environmental activist and a humanitarian who often supported the homeless and the poor.

As we head into 2025, let’s pray that peace, love, and hope are more than just words, but a living, breathing reality that shapes our broken world.

I’ll be sharing updates on BRING HER HOME in the months ahead.

All the best,

Bruce