COPYRIGHT/CLEAN WATER
Thanks Be to Bono
by Brent Barton (with Stewart Stinson)
© 2013 Stewart Stinson
All author proceeds go towards WATERCAN, a leading world water charity dedicated to eliminating global poverty by helping the world’s poorest people gain access to clean water, basic sanitation and hygiene education.
FONTS
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ABSTRACT
You know who Bono is. Everyone knows who Bono is! Love him or hate him, he is the lead singer of U2, an international diplomat, a peacemaker, and the champion of the movement to end the tragedy of extreme poverty. Did you know that he is now the most recognized player on the world stage today? With the U2 stage setup, he literally has the loudest voice on the planet. And thanks be to him, millions of lives have been saved as a result of his work as an advocate for the fair distribution of food and medicine to people in crisis. What a super star! He’s an inspiration for all people everywhere.
Few have been inspired by Bono’s star like Brent Barton, humble photocopier salesman from Vancouver and world traveling U2opian social activist. He’s the guy who followed that star and set out to transform the music and activism of Bono into a controversial global spiritual movement – the latest and greatest of all in the long history of world religion – and then dedicated his life to finding lasting solutions to all of humanity's problems.
In the pages of this personal memoir, Brent opens up for the first time ever about the birth of the movement, taking the reader behind the rise of TEMPLE™, from the early days of downtown street preaching, to the opening of the first wave of TEMPLE™ mega-plex multi-centers and all the way through to the international advancement of the extravagantly ambitious U2opian agenda. Here Brent shares his thoughts on Africa, poverty, charity, religion, tolerance, respect, haters, extremists, reality, enlightenment, and the awesomeness of everything associated with the music of the rock’n roll band U2. Here, for the first time ever, Brent speaks candidly, about his aspirations and of the deep faith that gives him strength and hope. He gives readers clear guidance and helpful tips in the struggle to find balance in times of economic, political and climactic instability. Direct and to the point, Brent shoots from the hip and outlines a new direction for humanity, based on Bono and the music of U2.
You are cordially invited to join the celebration of iconoclast, celebrity and activism in the global age of doom and gloom end times religious hysteria! This is not your everyday SENSATIONALIST TELL-ALL memoir of the latest TELEVANGELIST caught in a HOT SEX, DRUGS & ROCK'N ROLL SCANDAL. Cheers.
DISCLOSURE
Dare to believe, most of what follows is ALL true. In consideration of the feelings of some friends and acquaintances, I have changed several names and identifying characteristics. Some sequences and details have been altered for literary coherence. But at the heart of it all is the absolute truth as I’ve come to know it.
INTRO
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