It's a privilege to serve the poor, to be servants of noble Africans, but I better belong in the rehearsal room or in the studio with my band. That's where I want to be and I still wake up in the morning with melodies in my head.
BonoRead
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the presence of divinity in the suffering and struggles of marginalized people.
Bono's quote reflects on the idea that God is not found in places of wealth or power, but rather intimately present in the lives of the poor, the suffering, and those affected by war and societal neglect. It suggests that divine compassion and presence can be seen in the most desperate situations, calling us to recognize our shared humanity and the need to support those who are suffering.
In practice
During a speech on social justice, I referenced Bono's quote to highlight the need for empathy toward the marginalized.
It's a privilege to serve the poor, to be servants of noble Africans, but I better belong in the rehearsal room or in the studio with my band. That's where I want to be and I still wake up in the morning with melodies in my head.
Perspective is the cure for depression.
At a certain point, I just felt, you know, God is not looking for alms, God is looking for action.
It's much easier to be successful than it is to be relevant. The tricks won't keep you relevant. Tricks might keep you popular for a while, but in all honesty, I don't know how U2 will stay relevant. I know we've got a future. I know we can fill stadiums. And yet with every record, I think, 'Is this it? Are we still relevant?'
Hanging out with politicians and corporations is very unhip work. But I think that the U2 audience have turned out to be incredibly subtle in their understanding.
Until it's on the radio or online, it's not real. With U2, our album isn't finished until it's in the stores.
Forgotten were the elementary rules of logic, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and that what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
We can no longer take our own way of life for granted - we know that it may be challenged. And we know this, too - and know it ever more deeply - we know that freedom and democracy are not just big words mouthed by orators but the rain and the wind and the sun, the air and the light by which we breathe and live.
Just before she died she asked, What is the answer? No answer came. She laughed and said, In that case, what is the question? Then she died.
I do not know if there is a more dreadful word in the English language than that word "lost."
Why do I live in the desert? Because the desert is the *locus Dei*.
All extremes of feeling are allied to madness.
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