Читать книгу Thanks Be to Bono - Brent Barton - Страница 6

Hello there. I have some very important information that I think you should know about and I know (I know) we’re both real pressed for time.

Please.

One moment?

Thanks!

I’m reaching out to you right now because of some matters that concern you, your community, your nation, and your planet. If you’re someone who has an interest in how you can personally play a part in altering the course of this, our world, I have a message of good news for you!

This was how I sometimes introduced myself during MESSAGE™, the great welcoming campaign. MESSAGE™ was a huge success.

Many are put off by a direct approach like this. You might be one of those people. I’m one of those people. And, in defense of people like us, I would just like to add that this is a perfectly reasonable response to the state of things. These cold calls, and the soap box sidewalk street revival preaching and such, they get up so close and in your face, they invade your space. These calls, the loud demands for your attention, can be so annoying. For sure. And it’s nonstop all the time. Tell me about it. I know. No one hears anything when we’re all shouting at the same time.

But our pitch was brief.

And we always got right to the point.

We weren’t calling to waste anyone’s time.

If I’ve got you cornered, so to speak, and have your full attention, I’ll begin the signal scan. I’m looking for any of the signs that can be used to determine whether or not you are interested in more information. Verbal indicators mainly, there are multiple factors at play. Body language, biorhythmic feedback and such. Calculations are made, based on all of your reactions throughout our interaction thus far, to conclude whether or not you are interested in such talk of dreams and ideas of what may come or be. If I don’t receive a positive feedback signal I come to a full stop. I step back. Ease off. One must be sensitive to whether or not a person is receptive to an introduction. No interest? I do apologize. Sincerely. For any interruption and subsequent distress that I may have caused. It’s all cool, no worries. Another time perhaps. Have a great day. Our strongest intentions were always from the heart, filled with the sincerest desire and feelings of goodness.

If I had my satchel with me I would invite you to accept the gift of an informative brochure.

And then I’d leave you be.

Checkout our website, I’ll add, before a door closes between us.

Whenever there is an indication of interest I quickly follow with a passage from one of the Songs. Often I just say it, but if I am feeling particularly moved by the spirit I will sing it. An act of expression like this usually gets some attention when inserted into regular conversation.

The results, when one succeeds in making contact with that soul, that heart, that mind, changes the lives of whole communities. That is the power of the message.

“What exactly are you selling?” confused local citizens would ask.

“Nothing you can’t leave behind,” I replied.

I’ve talked to all sorts of people, from all walks of life, about how this is a message of more than just words, spoken or sung. I’ve preached – sue me, I’m a preacher, preaching is what I’ve been called to do – about how this is a message that will ring through your ears, pound in your chest, and send a firestorm of electrical current charging through your brain. It kick starts your heart. It gets this heartbeat pumping thumping alright.

Solid.

Steady now.

Go!

This is a message that penetrates, both the heart and the mind. It’s one that flows in, with a breath. It spreads warmth, from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, circulating through your body and consciousness, entering you from the very ground of the Earth, and then ascends you, through you, to the stars above and around and beyond. It’s a message that encompasses your entire being and all things that surround you. From the sky, down, from the ground, up, this is a message made with an exclamation point!

Let’s stand up and, as the chorus kicks in, raise our arms in the air and shout “woo-hoo” as loud as we can.

WOO-HOO!

[The guitar notes ring out, the bass and the drums support us as we climb higher.]