I have been reading from a book called U2 by U2, my mother's day gift from Brian. I was very interested to read what Bono writes here:
" Sometimes it comes across as if I got into U2 to save the world. I got into U2 to save myself. I meet people out on the street who approach me like I'm Mahatma Gandhi. And when someones says, 'Hail, man of peace', I can hear Larry laughing under his breath: 'You're lucky he didn't nut you.' The band are very bemused by my attarction to non-violence, because they know you couldn't get further from the songs than the singer. They understand that the reason I have for being so attracted to these characters, the subjects of the songs - because in my life and temperment I am so far from them. There is a rage in me and it is not all injustice. I have developed good manners to disguise it."
I appreciate his honesty about not being nearly as "good" as his image paints him to be. I appreciate that he is real about the fact that he is often times a mess (he went on in that passage to describe some of the ways in which he is so UN-saintly) and doesn't have things figured out yet at the same time strives for greatness. This, more than the ONE campagn or Product Red, inspires me. When I am feeling like a mess and a total loser all of my ambition for doing something good and meaningful in my life is lost. I have some pretty lofty goals for myself (which I know I can not achieve without a gigantic portion of grace and mercy from God Himself). I would like to live a life of simplicity that is so radically different from any way of life I have known, I would like to be a more conscious consumer in light of my convictions about contributing to oppression in the agricultural and textile industries, most of all, I would like to be a really, really, good mother. Not quite as lofty as ending poverty in Africa but if what the myriad of famous faces tell me on TV is correct, to do so might infact be easier than what I have set out to achieve. Who knows. The point is I am not very good at living with the reality of this duality in me. The fact that I can be a fleshly, sinful disaster and still do something significant with myself. It's refeshing to think that maybe I can. I know that God in His word tells me so in slightly different wording, but for some reason it was more impactful coming from a real human being example (Bono, of all people...goodness.).