This bleak, sleeting morning I was driving to CNN to finish a 30-minute special we’re producing on the African Children’s Choir. The special, “Songs of Hope” takes a fraction of my footage and bits from the Choir’s 25 years of archives to put together an amazing story of Music for Life through the eyes of two of its newest members and two of its most successful former members.  We’ll post the sneak-peak CNN Backstory on here shortly… and be sure to tune in to see the special – air times are listed here: www.cnn.com/insideafrica.

Anyways, on the way to work at the intersection of Andrew Young Blvd. (named after one of my heroes) and Peachtree Rd. (the famed Main. St. of Atlanta) the stop light was out. Instead of lighting up green, yellow and red to organize an already over-organized high-traffic society, it was simply a flashing red light. The kind you get when the light breaks.

So here I am - it’s New Year’s Eve, wintry-mix sunrise, crowded intersection smack dab in the middle of downtown Atlanta and the light is broken. You may think I would get frustrated and curse aloud. But no, it was one of the sweetest moments of peace and harmony.

Everyone came together, we were a community in our array of individual cars. No one ran the light or took advantage of it’s brokenness to beat their neighbor to work or to the airport to catch a flight to see the ball drop. Here we were and it was already the new year, 2010 in Sydney, Australia. But the rush stopped for a second and all as well. Together, we took turns. We all looked around to make sure the pedestrians had a chance. It was the essence of humanity, pure and simple care for one another. Beauty from a flashing red light.

One of my best friends, Julia, told me a story one splendid Spring day back in Charlottesville. We were walking down our college-town street, bursting with fresh blooms, watching the fancy cars drive by. I was judging them. Them in their nice cars, not doing anything to help the world. Judging people I didn’t even know. She explained something C.S. Lewis once noted – people are like cars. We come into this world and are given a certain car. It may go fast, or slow, be bright and shiny, or dull and dented. It’s our choice how we decide to drive our cars. And how we decide to treat the other cars on the road.

The moment of peace this morning with the intersection coming together was a perfect example of how we all CAN be kind with our cars. On Backstory yesterday, I noted that the real Africa is not just the bad news and corruption you see on the news, it’s also the sweet moments of people helping out the pedestrians at the flashing red light.

This new year, I pray that you are able to feel that same inner peace. The world is good. The precious kids in the African Children’s Choir remind me everyday that there is hope. There is a reason to use my small green car to lift them up.