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"We realised that there's only a certain amount of Joshua trees you can chop down." -- Larry, on recording All That You Can't Leave Behind, 2002 |
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"We realised that there's only a certain amount of Joshua trees you can chop down." -- Larry, on recording All That You Can't Leave Behind, 2002 |
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Bono Asks Penn Grads to Be 'Hammers' Against AIDS and Poverty
@U2,
May 20, 2004
Bono had the FCC on his mind as he greeted the audience at the University of Pennsylvania's 248th Commencement in Philadelphia on Monday. In response to the crowd's enthusiastic applause, he warned them not to "get me excited, I tend to use four-letter words when I"m excited." And later, "come to think of it, Bono is a four-letter word." But he assured the parents in attendance that "your children are safe, I'm no threat to anyone."
Bono's address to the graduating Class of 2004 was often humorous and self-effacing. At one point, he turned to the scholars sitting on the stage and, questioning their better judgment, asked "Are you sure?" about awarding him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. All joking aside, he was serious about his message to the graduates to make a difference in their world. He relayed the story of his visit to Africa in 1985 with his wife Ali, and how that trip turned him into "the worst scourge on God's green earth -- a rock star with a cause." He reiterated that the crisis in Africa was not a cause, but an emergency. His fight is against what he called "stupid poverty," poverty that can be eliminated thanks to the availability of resources to eradicate it. "We have the know how, we have the cash, we have the lifesaving drugs, but do we have the will?" he asked. And although he called it a "big, expensive idea," he said "it's cheaper than the Marshall Plan, it's cheaper than fighting wave after wave of of terrorism's new recruits." Bono insisted that he was a fan of America, and the idea of America where anything is possible, but added that "with power, comes responsibility, with equality being the highest goal." He encouraged the graduates to use their education for the greater good. "Your degree is a blunt instrument. The world is more malleable than you think, and it's waiting for you to hammer it into shape." © @U2/Maione, 2004.
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