NPR recently did a story about Grand Rapids, Michigan’s inspiring response to a Newsweek article listing Grand Rapids as one of America’s “dying cities” with a “bleak” economic outlook. Many small and medium business owners can empathize with what the people of Grand Rapids felt in the face of such a stark prediction, as business owners have been hearing from the media for years about how many businesses are failing with more hard times ahead.

Yet, the town of Grand Rapids did something inspiring in response. A small group of filmmakers, business people, and politicians rallied with a downtown production of hundreds of the town’s citizens, including prominent business leaders, students, government officials, and local news personalities, lip syncing to Don McLean’s hit, “American Pie.”

Watch the video here (see article below for link)...

The video went viral fast, with over a million views on a holiday weekend. What is so inspiring about a town lip syncing?

1. It is quintessentially American. To respond to bad news by having a town-wide sing-along of “American Pie,” featuring cheerleaders, a pillow fight, a Nerf battle, the mayor riding in a convertible, and that plucky, small town, everybody-knows-everyone-else-and-we-can-all-pull-together-and-do-something-great . . . well, that is what the indomitable American spirit is all about.