ro·man·ti·cize (v) – Deal with or describe in an idealized or unrealistic fashion; make (something) seem better or more appealing than it really is.
Feel Humanity with your Action
U2 is a band who feel humanity. Today’s 360 Tour show had a scene where we can see the eye of a person, a woman. As her face is shown, you can tell she is middle eastern because her head and neck are covered. Her expression is similar to the Mona Lisa. As Sunday Bloody Sunday starts, her mouth and nose are covered with a green cloth. The Tunisian flag is shown, then the Iranian flag, and following the lyrics to the song it is hard to miss the similarities between Russian Bloody Sunday and recent Egypt and Iranian freedom struggles and government oppression.
I couldn’t help but think of other things that move so many people as U2 is able to. And I noticed a striking commonality.
What people Choose Freely
People are free to choose their music. The musicians that have been able to gather so many people include U2, Madonna, Shakira, Queen, Beatles, etc. All of these romanticize the world in their songs.
People are free to choose their literature. Can you think of these great movers of people who didn’t romanticize the world?
Even great movers of politics, Dr. King, Gandhi, and countless others, pitched a view of the world that doesn’t yet exist, but is worth fighting for. And it is that romanticized view of the world that we all want to hear, that we want to live in, that gathers so many people into a single motive. Obama pitched a world of change. He got the world to follow.
The common theme is a romantic vision of the world. Future Equality. Future Peace and Love.
The World is Full of Romantics
While watching the packed stadium chant in unison One, I realized that what these creators of history achieve is: they touch the person inside each one of us. They touch that romantic that we all are, somewhere deep inside. And these are the changes that last.
Here’s a fantastic quote in memory of Dr. King:
Early morning, April 4.
A shot rings out in the Memphis sky.
“Free at last, they took your life.
But they could not take your pride.”
The pride of guiding people towards the inevitable romantic future.
Carry that World to the Future
Be good. Do good. Help a person. Society will follow to the inevitable future.
So skip the subway, go overground. Take your head out of the mud, And dream out loud.