1.1. What would happen if everyone cared?

Listening activity

Listen to the song and then do the activities below. You can have a look at the lyrics in 'click here'.

The message of the song is shown at the end of the video:

A SMALL GROUP OF COMMITTED PEOPLE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.

1. Which four people are mentioned in the video (not in the lyrics) as examples of people who changed the world in some way? (by the way, the first two were Irish)

2. Why did the music journalist organize the first global charity concert?

3. Where and when were the three children killed?

4. What important organization was created after Peter Benenson's letter?

5. Why was Nelson Mandela sentenced to life in prison?

1. Bob Geldof, Betty Williams, Peter Benenson and Nelson Mandela.

2. Because, inspired by African's famine epidemic, he began a fight against world hunger.

3. The three children were killed during the political turmoil in Northern Ireland.

4. Amnesty International.

5. Because he was charged with political treason.

"If Everyone Cared"

From underneath the trees, we watch the sky
Confusing stars for satellites
I never dreamed that you'd be mine
But here we are, we're here tonight

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive

[Chorus:]
If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

And I'm singing

Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive
Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive

And in the air the fireflies
Our only light in paradise
We'll show the world they were wrong
And teach them all to sing along

Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
Singing Amen, I, I'm alive
(I'm alive)

[Chorus x2]

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died
When nobody died...

[Chorus]

We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day, we'd see the day
When nobody died
We'd see the day when nobody died

1984- Bob Geldof, music journalist, inspired by African's famine epidemic, began his fight against world hunger and organised the first global charity concert.

1976- Betty Williams witnessed three children killed during the political turmoil in Northern Ireland. Within two days, she obtained 6,000 signatures petitioning for peace. She then led 10,000 people on a peace march to the children's graves. The peaceful march was disrupted by protesters. One week later, she organized another march. This time it was 35,000 strong. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that year.

1961- Two students in Portugal raised their glasses in a toast to freedom. They were imprisoned for 7 years. The British lawyer Peter Benenson was shocked by the events. To support the students, he wrote a letter to his local newspaper. The response was so overwhelming that a committee was formed to organize the campaign. It quickly grew into a word-wide movement, known today as Amnesty International.

1920's- A boy from a small South African village dreamt of a day when equality would prevail over his country. After years of activism, he was charged with political treason and sentenced to life in prison. His dream of equality never died. In 1990, after 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela was finally released. Mandela then led South Africa to its first ever democratic presidential election. Nearly 19 million people voted. He won the election, ending the racist apartheid regime that divided South Africa for 46 years.

Solved exercise

In topic 4, we learned that first conditional sentences are used to talk about possible or likely events and their result. Second conditional sentences, on the contrary, are used to talk about hypothesis or unlikely events and their result.

For example:

If I were a boy, I'd listen to her. (hypothesis, I'm a girl)

If I won the lottery, I would travel around the world like Paco. (It's not impossible, but I don't expect this to happen)

The following paragraph from the song uses second conditional examples:

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we'd see the day when nobody died

Does the singer think this is impossible or unlikely to happen?

Important

Do you remember the song 'If I were a boy' in the introduction?

Why does she say 'I were' and not 'I was'? The answer is easy: in second conditional sentences we often use this form of the verb 'to be' for the first person singular. The same goes for the third person singular. In both cases, 'were' is more common in writing or more formal language.

Finally there is another reason to use the Second Conditional construction: to give advice:

If I were you, I would study harder.

I wouldn't tell this to your mother if I were you.

In Spanish, it is equivalent to the expressions: si yo fuera tú, yo de tí......