My U2 kick has continued since the concert. A friend of mine has a program on his computer that allows him to take the audio track from any DVD and make it an .mp3 format. A few weeks ago I bought the DVD of the U2 concert that took place in Chicago, IL of this last year and recently gave the DVD to my friend to make into an audio CD. I am actually listening to that music as I write this. One of the more memorable parts of the concert was before the song “One” in which Bono reminds the crowd of the responsibility this generation has to fuse the disconnect between the mighty resources some members of the world community have to fill the need of others. Issues such as hunger, poverty, aids, need for medicine, oppression… all important struggles in the fight good has over evil. Bono plead for us to take action with our voice and join the ONE campaign.
I have never been one to get involved in anything political. I remember having a conversation with a friend years ago about how I had never really felt any conviction strong enough that would lead me to take drastic action. I remember the first time I ever felt a conviction strong enough to drive my will to take action. Those emotions were new to me and yet I felt a part of something that needed my effort. As I grow older I see more of the issues that people face on a personal level and how those small struggles make up the tapestry of what the world in its entirety faces. So many people, myself included, sometimes have the attitude that their actions won’t hurt anyone; that the life that we live is only ours. This is simply not true.
Recently I was exiting the freeway near my home. I was about ten cars back and was waiting for the lights to change so that traffic would resume in the direction I was heading. The light turned green, traffic proceeded and it seemed that the flow was as it should be. A car ahead of me didn’t realize that the light had turned so he sat there until the light turned yellow and then hurried through the intersection leaving me as the first in line. Time passed, the light turned green again and I proceed to the next turn that I needed to make. At that next turn I approached a car accident that had just happened; the people involved hadn’t even left their cars yet. The car that was in front of me had tried to make a turn without enough time and subsequently became involved in this crash. It didn’t look serious, I am certain that none were physically hurt but this instance illustrated to my mind the dilemma to which I am referring. Both your good decisions and your bad decisions affect everyone around you. There is no escaping that what we do in our personal lives has its presence in the world around us. I have realized this too late for some of the mistakes in my life but just in time for others. Learning this I have grieved over my own personal indiscretions that I know have changed the lives of my children. I know that because of my actions I have placed others in a position to choose to judge me and therefore put them in an unfavorable position to reconcile that judgment or be condemned themselves to judgment. There is always away to be made whole when errors occur, but effects of those errors are a longer time fixing. I know plainly that my actions are not my own, but that I have a duty to my God and the community to which I live to be better than I am.
I am not one to endorse any sort of political agenda. I am one to endorse personal improvement through application of truth in your life. Check out www.one.org site. Read about it. Realize that your money isn’t near as important as your voice. As shown in countless places, we can be one, yet not the same…and work toward a great cause.
No comments:
Post a Comment