On June 26, 1945, sixty-one and a half years ago, representatives of fifty countries all over the world, ravaged by the second world war, signed probably the most important document which proved that human race is a race of hope. The document was of course the Charter of the United Nations and its introductory text (the preamble) is probably the single most important piece of writing on this Earth. It deserves to be cited:
“We the peoples of the united nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, And for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples, have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims Accordingly, our respective governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present charter of the united nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.”
Today, sixty-one and a half years after the adoption of the UN charter and two thousand and six years after a man was nailed to the cross for saying that wouldn’t it be nice if we all just got along, people – to the best of my knowledge – still die or suffer in the following countries and regions around the world, listed alphabetically: Abkhazia-Georgia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Basque Country (Spain), Bosnia, Chad, Congo (Zaire), Chechnya, Colombia, Cyprus, Darfur (Sudan), Eritrea, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Kashmir (India-Pakistan), Korea (North), Kosovo-Serbia, Lebanon, Liberia, Mexican-American Border, Myanmar (Burma), Nagorno-Karabakh, Northern Ireland, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tibet (China), Turkey-Kurdistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
While I do not share the faith of the Catholics who believe that the son of God was born on December 25th (nor do I share beliefs of any other religion whatsoever), I do believe that the message of Catholic religion (or of any other religion, for that matter) is one of peace. And that is my wish fo all of us:
Let peace rule this Earth once more.
yes:”fuck the past, kiss the future!” – bono in sarajevo.
Peace on earth – song nmber 8 on U2’s album – all that you can’t leave behind. Season’s greetings to everyone…
Bono is a good man…
you afraid to say anthing else i I’m reading this.. :))
No, it’s not that… But I was thinking about what you wrote and about Bono and his activism in general. While many people might agree with the assumption that Bono’s just being egocentric (which he probably is) I came to the conclusion that the whole thing has already reached different proportions. Namely: It’s not about what Bono does (or the reasons that he does it for). It’s what his actions mean to other people. To put it in scientific terms: His actions have transcended the cultural boundaries and have come to address the basic yearnings of mankind all over the world.
Simmilar examples: JFK, a womaniser and a junkie was the embodiement of a new, young and fair world. Winston Churchill, a drunkard, a chauvinist and a reactionary embodied the survival of the apparently decadent way of life which proved to be much more resilient than those who thought they’re on a God given mission to make human race more resilient, mostly by eliminating all of its impure “elements”.
For a person like Bono to be able to represent one of the basic yearnings of the mankind, you need a certain mass of people who won’t fear his “out-bettering” them and the reason they won’t presume he is trying to do exactly that in the first place is because they are able to look at state of the things before or without thinking of themselves and their own comparative position/stance and its “moral value” first, rejecting the sheer necessity of acting becaue their ego tells them “No, don’t – let the sucker do the job, he is rich. It is not necessary that you do anything of the kind”.
So if I understand you correctly, you’re saying that Bono is in essence our (“our” for the sake of the argument, of course) excuse for not doing anything (let alone enough)?
No, I think people like Bono are (regardless of their motives) often just a target for a vanity-motivated comparison (Is he appearing to be better than me? Yes? Well in that case I hate the contriving sucker!). It takes a special kind of person to be able to think: Hmm, let’s see, what is the situation there and if it is really one of dire needs, what could I do (WITHOUT the Is-he-appearing-better-than me-part)?
The Germans have coined a very ironic expression word for compulsive do-gooders (the ones who actually want the reputation that goes with good deeds)- they call them “Gutmenschen”. And if you’ve been called that once (nowadays, it seems very easy to earn this badge), there is nothing you can do/a lot of work necessary to persuade others it was really a concrete action/solution for real problems and not PR/vanity that was the aim of your hard work.
Why aren’t you celebrating? 🙂
Ah, I see your point now… Me celebrating? What exactly? The birth of the Son of He who is? Not my cup of tea…
No, just, like, drinking an eating and making merry 🙂 Or do you have to work these days?
Oh, that… 😀 I was, at my aunt’s but now I’m back for a quiet evening unto myself… I take it your social schedule is full these days?
well, it’s not really social, it’s rather recreational and stuff, since mi2 are leaving in a few hours, for a quiet holiday in the North and not returning till 30th December. Unfortunately we’ve been killing Orcs tll now (PC game) and may not be able to get up soon…
Have a nice time!