Thursday, May 10, 2007

Heroes Part IV


One of my heroes, perhaps my favourite hero has a birthday today, so I will do a little blog post on him. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm a huge music fan, and a huge U2 fan. I counted up all the albums, singles, and DVDs of U2 I have...and well I have a lot. 30 albums/singles and 7 DVDs, a bunch of books, posters, buttons, etc...

So as you can guess my fourth hero is Bono who is turning 47 today. Man he is starting to get old, which means my parents are getting old. There are a number of reasons why Bono is a hero of mine. He is a great musician and political activist. I don't really like using the term political activist as he is more of a fighter for justice, and voices issues that those without a voice can't. Some say that Bono does his work dealing with AIDS, Africa, Poverty, Injustice, and others just for the publicity. I don't buy that though. Having put out as many successful albums as U2 has, he doesn't need the extra publicity. Its not like he is running low on cash and needed to do something to get out in the spotlight.
As a songwriter Bono obviously has a way with words. They lyrics of his songs go right to the soul and stir up emotions that not just any band can. The song "Bad" is an example of this, with lyrics that take me to a different place every time I hear them. Bono also has a way of words with the media with his clever humor. He loves to talk. So it makes sense that when he's campaigning for the ONE campaign or Make Poverty History that he can provide a speech that you realize how much is wrong in this world, but also leaves you with a sense that YOU can actually do something to change this. He almost makes you feel guilty if you sit on the sidelines and do nothing. I'm going to include one or more of his speeches at the bottom of this post, and I suggest you take a few minutes and listen to them. I can guarantee you that it will be worth your time.
Bono is a hero of mine too the way he has been able to keep a healthy marriage all these years despite being on the road touring with the band so much. In this day and age, true celebrity love is such a rare thing (Exhibit A, Brittany Spears).
Bono is a hero of mine because he has a good knowledge of the Scriptures, and really understands that Jesus is calling us to feed the hungry and to clothe the naked. So often the Church gets strung up on silly issues that divide the Church apart. Even though Bono swears, smokes, and plays rock n' roll, I think there are some things from him that every Christian can learn. I wear my ONE white band around my arm because Bono has really spoken to me, and helped me realize that I can indeed change this world.
I also am a big Bono fan because pretty much every project and paper I had to write in High School I managed to incorporate him into it since I could talk about U2 and Bono for days and days.

Below I have 3 video clips of the Bono interview that he did in Canada before the Liberal convention a few years back. And he is interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos.

The Bono interview Part 1


The Bono interview Part 2


The Bono interview Part 3


Bono at Live 8. Amazing speech. Watch it. If you don't have time for the others, watch this one.

1 comment:

Lore said...

Great post... I really Like U2 too, and Bono is also one of my heroes

I really like the way that he use his influence to try to do something for the least fortunate people..

see ya

bye!!