Surrender, Bono

I was not expecting Bono to be such a terrific writer (don’t know why I felt this), but he meets the rubber with the road. His story is amazing and well-lived. In one week in 1976, the week he joined the band that was to become U2, was also the week that the formerly asked his future wife of over 40 years now, to go out with him. A profound week! Bono has always been collaborative by nature. His thought is that the world is not so scary if somebody is waiting to walk with you on the next part of the journey. He was and is afraid of the comfort of comfortable success. Paranoid of U2 falling for the entitlement of other rock bands, and losing their songwriting chops and that their very presence onstage was reason enough for the crowd to bow. The band needed to stay students of the profession and refuse the invitation to be rock gods. He knew selling a boatload of albums is no proof of anything except your popularity. If you have a shot at greatness, you’ll need a different measure from having some of your songs in the pop charts. A great way to look at your legacy and made me respect him even more. He wants the actual chance of being great, having a legacy as opposed to pretending he is, which many times he felt and feels he is doing. Very humble, deeply moving, and inspiring, Bono exceeds my expectation of what a lead singer in the band can be, to the world, to himself, and to those trying to make a positive impact in the world.