Bono: "Let's Put Humanity Back on Earth"By Bono, AlterNet
Posted October 25, 2008
Bono addressed 14,000 women in Long Beach, Calif., this week at The Women's Conference 2008. The following is an
excerpt from his speech.
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Rock stars have two urges. (No, really, just two.) They want to change the world, and they want to have fun. And I
believe we can't do one without the other. It's like music -- no one trusts music that lacks joy. It's the life force in
rock and roll that we love. Especially in serious times, in traumatic times. We need to dig deep to find joy.
So let me repeat, we are here tonight because we want to change the world in a tiny way in our 'hoods or in a grand way
in our global community and in so doing, find our joy. But we can't change the world without first changing the way we
look at the world. The way you behave in the world depends entirely on the way you view the world. Weltanschauung is
what the Germans call it.
Californians call it your attitude ... dude.
My worldview was shaped by rock and roll. Growing up in the depressed Dublin of the '70s, music was like an alarm clock
for me. It woke me up out of suburban slumber. It made me believe that my life could have some purpose outside of 10
Cedarwood Road.
It was the time of punk rock. No more flowers in our hair ... no more flowers, period. I was weaned on the Clash. The
Clash's music was like a public service announcement ... with guitars.
Three teenage boys and me, made some music of our own. That was the plan.
But in the mid '80s my life -- not just my hairdo -- changed in unexpected ways.
U2 became part of the phenomenon that was Live Aid, We Are the World, Feed the World ... do you remember that?
My young wife Ali and I went to Ethiopia to see for ourselves what was going on. We lived there for a month, working at
a feeding camp and orphanage. The children had a name for me. They called me 'the Girl with the Beard.'
Don't ask.
Ali and I found Africa a magical place -- a place of big skies, big hearts, beautiful people, royal people. Ethiopia
didn't just blow our minds, it opened our minds.
And it challenged our worldview.
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