GRAND Magazine - Summer 2021 - 23

cover story
pictures, and the book. So it's really exciting. He enjoys
that part of it, too.
Just to let you know, regarding the album coming out,
I think I might say the next one is a little bit more, maybe
overtly spiritual, but it's broad, it's very broad.
WENDY: What's it called?
YUSUF: Don't know yet, still working on that, but for
sure, we've still got songs, we've got stories to tell. I
think you'll probably like the next one. We had the 50th
anniversary of Tea for the Tillerman, and we had to stop
Father
and Son
everything [to do] this kind of revisional imagination of
the album. And that kind of took us off track from the
new songs. But I think everybody liked that too because
it was reconnecting with that sentiment of that time,
which is still so much needed.
Charitable work
WENDY: Could you talk more about the Peace Train
Initiative? Is that something new?
Yusuf with son, Yuriyos
23 GRAND Summer 2021
YUSUF: Well, it's like trying to put wheels on the peace
train-what do you do? And I came across the saying
[from] the last prophet who said, Feed the hungry,
spread peace. Then it kind of dawned on me that you can
have these conferences about peace and conciliation, but
when half of the population is starving, it's pretty impossible
for them to think of anything approaching what we
call peace or security. And so, therefore, I thought, Wow!
That's a good place for peace train to go. You know, it's
turning it into a vehicle for charity and helping people,
that can feed people, provide opportunities to find water,
to produce clean water. Very simple things.
WENDY: What do you hope that your legacy will
be? What do you want to leave with your children,
your audience?
YUSUF: Well, I think it's to do with the song, " Father
and Son. " It's to do with the fact that you can change
the world if you start to change yourself. Fathers have
to ponder that and sons have to find themselves. So I
would say never be afraid of change because I believe
that there's a God who is making everything in a way
for you to take that step. But you must never retreat
into nowhere. You must go forward-and humanity
right now, [from] what I see, has abandoned the spirit,
mostly for what it believes to be the happiness it is
trying to hold on to, which it can never reach without
spiritual peace. And that's my message.
Wendy Schuman is a proud grandmom of
four and freelance writer who makes her home
in West Orange, NJ. She is a former editor
of Parents Magazine and Beliefnet.com. Wendy
and her husband help a new generation of
college grads in Millennials in Wonderland. To
learn more about Grad Life Choices, their pro
bono coaching program, click here.

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GRAND Magazine - Summer 2021

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