A New View

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The picture above was taken from our bedroom window in our new apartment.

Bono gave the address for Washington's annual prayer breakfast. I know I go on and on about Bono at times, but I can't help to hear his voice speaking out on the issues of justice in prophetic ways. For me, he is able to articulate God's call for justice that is palatable for everyone regardless of faith, political ideology. That is a unique gift and deliberate decision made by someone who sees obtaining life saving medicine for millions of Africans as more valuable than railing against the Iraq war, President Bush, Republicans, or hypocritically Christians. In his speech he says:

But here’s the bad news. From charity to justice, the good news is yet to come. There’s is much more to do. There’s a gigantic chasm between the scale of the emergency and the scale of the response. And finally, it’s not about charity after all, is it? It’s about justice. Let me repeat that: It’s not about charity, it’s about justice. And that’s too bad. Because you’re good at charity. Americans, like the Irish, are good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can’t afford it. But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment. 6,500 Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about Justice and Equality.

Because there's no way we can look at what’s happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn’t accept it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the Tsunami. 150, 000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, “mother nature”. In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And it’s a completely avoidable catastrophe.

It’s annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren’t they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain.

And I was all set to write about the Republicans reducing funding for college students, after school programs, etc in the recently passed House budget proposal. In light of this speech it just doesn't seem as important especially since I watched three children die in footage shot by Anderson Cooper when he was a guest on Oprah two nights ago. Walk on Bono, walk on!

For the full printable text of Bono's speech click here.
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