I was fortunate to escape the cold and snow in Costa Rica last week. One surprising dividend in flying on Jet Blue is the wide range of movie choices at your fingertips.  I went through the 100 or so selections, surprised by how tempting the old ones are for a re-watch.  And, they also have new ones, including the new Bond film, “No Time to Die”. On the flight there, I chose  “Pulp Fiction”, a Tarantino classic that I had never watched again in its entirety. It is dark, violent, quirky, and laugh out loud funny at times. 

On the return flight, the new documentary about Harry Chapin caught my eye. “When in Doubt, Do Something” is a 2020 deep dive into Chapin’s life, musical career, and passion to end world hunger and poverty.  He died tragically, in a car accident, on the Long Island Expressway at the age of 39.

Harry Chapin was a product of an artistic family based in New York City.  At 20, he was an award winning documentary filmmaker and eventually moved toward the family “music’ business.   His storytelling songs were unusual and not considered marketable. But, Taxi, Cat’s in the Cradle, and W-O-L-D became huge hits.  Not being satisfied with selling millions of records, Chapin performed at hundreds of charity concerts to raise money and awareness of hunger and poverty.  He pushed politicians to admit that America had a problem and even convinced President Carter to create a Commission on World Hunger.

Chapin’s passion for erasing hunger is still making an impact on lives around the world. The organizations Why Hunger and Long Island Cares are two of my favorite charities. “When in Doubt, Do Something” tenderly depicts Chapin’s energy and drive to help others. Billy Joel and Harry Belafonte are two of the many figures who talk of how they were moved by Chapin’s work. Find the movie (Amazon-95 on Rotten Tomatoes) and see that doing something that MATTERS can change lives.