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Dear Bono,
At around I thought about writing this, my laptop was shuffling songs, and I was reorganizing my magazines. A moment hit when your song --and Edge's, and Larry's, and Adam's, to be fair-- was on, and in my hand was TIME's 2005 Persons of the Year with you on the cover (and the Gates). As if the cosmic was playing tease. And all hell broke lose in my head, hence this letter (but this letter finished much later. I was too cautious writing this, and here's what I got so far. I'm an amateur, so be gentle with me).
On that occasion, I browsed again the words people wrote and said about you: the words of admiration Bill Gates put on you in his TIME article some time ago (about the time when you, in his presence, relentlessly cell-phoned every single CEO friend you know to talk them into joining you to eradicate curable diseases, relieve debts of the third worlds, and --my favorite, if it is sensible to pick one-- making extreme poverty history; and that you got most of them in); appraisal of your relentless hard negotiations with world leaders by your partner in DATA, Bobby Shriver. Then again, you have been saying similar strong words about people, too. You wrote that when poverty is history, its architect Jeffrey Sachs --your friend, you claimed-- will be more famous than you are. You applauded George Clooney, your fellow activist, for his, to borrow your words, "almost peculiar ability to sublimate his ego to win a point." You high-praised Aung San Suu Kyi for her determination to never settle less than the full freedom of Myanmar.
The late John Lennon is definitely right when he said that in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. The things these people said and wrote about you must have been because of what you said and wrote about them, too (or it's the other way around I'm not really sure --I would think that neither are you).
On the days that have long passed it is your habit to forced your words down people throats. You intimidated them with your tongue. You went on head-to-head collision with your bigot, oppresor enemies, crashing them the hardest. You rocked. You still do, but I guess time did ripen you up. Now, though when you speak you still growl, and when you sing you still scream, you're different. You've changed from an angry rock boy to a preaching man. Ever through the lyrics you've weaved, you're more persuasive now. And when you sing back your old tunes, now we go, "ow so that's what you meant." The cocky lines on your face now boast that you're right, almost without vanity (but on this, I like you enough that biased is very possible).
You are probably almost the only preacher I pay attention to. I'm no fan of any kind of sermon. Life is brand new everyday and any teaching that broadcasts in repeats just fails to notice it. Yours is way ahead. I know that among other things, you are a man of congregation. But you live in the present as if you notice every inch of it. Thus when you say the L-word (and for a musician in your rebellious genre, you sure use it an awful lot), you say it with new different meanings attach to it every time. This one is my favorite: 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.' Bless you for every one of them.
You are a very diligent man, and have a very sharp set of eyes. You know a piece of history in the making when you see one, when only few people notice or care. And you make songs of them. So in real-time your songs are reminders, and when things have come to pass your songs will celebrate them. Humanity will proudly have a soundtrack album of its own, and your masterpieces --and Edge's, and Larry's, and Adam's, to be fair-- will probably be ones that make the most contributions.
I know that it is not your intention, but it's too late. You only get what you deserve.
Sincerely yours,
adih.
Dear Bono,
At around I thought about writing this, my laptop was shuffling songs, and I was reorganizing my magazines. A moment hit when your song --and Edge's, and Larry's, and Adam's, to be fair-- was on, and in my hand was TIME's 2005 Persons of the Year with you on the cover (and the Gates). As if the cosmic was playing tease. And all hell broke lose in my head, hence this letter (but this letter finished much later. I was too cautious writing this, and here's what I got so far. I'm an amateur, so be gentle with me).
On that occasion, I browsed again the words people wrote and said about you: the words of admiration Bill Gates put on you in his TIME article some time ago (about the time when you, in his presence, relentlessly cell-phoned every single CEO friend you know to talk them into joining you to eradicate curable diseases, relieve debts of the third worlds, and --my favorite, if it is sensible to pick one-- making extreme poverty history; and that you got most of them in); appraisal of your relentless hard negotiations with world leaders by your partner in DATA, Bobby Shriver. Then again, you have been saying similar strong words about people, too. You wrote that when poverty is history, its architect Jeffrey Sachs --your friend, you claimed-- will be more famous than you are. You applauded George Clooney, your fellow activist, for his, to borrow your words, "almost peculiar ability to sublimate his ego to win a point." You high-praised Aung San Suu Kyi for her determination to never settle less than the full freedom of Myanmar.
The late John Lennon is definitely right when he said that in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. The things these people said and wrote about you must have been because of what you said and wrote about them, too (or it's the other way around I'm not really sure --I would think that neither are you).
On the days that have long passed it is your habit to forced your words down people throats. You intimidated them with your tongue. You went on head-to-head collision with your bigot, oppresor enemies, crashing them the hardest. You rocked. You still do, but I guess time did ripen you up. Now, though when you speak you still growl, and when you sing you still scream, you're different. You've changed from an angry rock boy to a preaching man. Ever through the lyrics you've weaved, you're more persuasive now. And when you sing back your old tunes, now we go, "ow so that's what you meant." The cocky lines on your face now boast that you're right, almost without vanity (but on this, I like you enough that biased is very possible).
You are probably almost the only preacher I pay attention to. I'm no fan of any kind of sermon. Life is brand new everyday and any teaching that broadcasts in repeats just fails to notice it. Yours is way ahead. I know that among other things, you are a man of congregation. But you live in the present as if you notice every inch of it. Thus when you say the L-word (and for a musician in your rebellious genre, you sure use it an awful lot), you say it with new different meanings attach to it every time. This one is my favorite: 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.' Bless you for every one of them.
You are a very diligent man, and have a very sharp set of eyes. You know a piece of history in the making when you see one, when only few people notice or care. And you make songs of them. So in real-time your songs are reminders, and when things have come to pass your songs will celebrate them. Humanity will proudly have a soundtrack album of its own, and your masterpieces --and Edge's, and Larry's, and Adam's, to be fair-- will probably be ones that make the most contributions.
I know that it is not your intention, but it's too late. You only get what you deserve.
Sincerely yours,
adih.
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