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Reasons I& #39;m thankful for Bono on his 61st birthday (in no particular order). A thread. #HappyBirthdayBono
1. He introduced me to the idea of being born again and again
And again, and again and again and again
Again
#HappyBirthdayBono
And again, and again and again and again
Again
#HappyBirthdayBono
2. He is unafraid to look back on his teenage years and see how they shaped the trajectory of his life. #HappyBirthdayBono
3. He and his friends started out on what they have all continued to do to this present day without any of them knowing what they were doing. #HappyBirthdayBono
4. In fact, a significant percentage of songs they& #39;ve written have the underlying message "I don& #39;t know what I& #39;m doing," which communicates to anyone wishing to pursue creativity: "If you don& #39;t know what to write about, write about that." #HappyBirthdayBono
5. He and his bandmates chose early on that they& #39;d share songwriting credit equally, knowing that fights over this made other bands disintegrate. It& #39;s a good reminder to me to value everyone& #39;s contribution to any given endeavor. #HappyBirthdayBono
6. U2 performed on television when they barely knew what they were doing. That reminds me not to be afraid to do ambitious things. #HappyBirthdayBono
7. Bono isn& #39;t afraid to argue with his younger self. "I& #39;m on the other side of the barricade now." #HappyBirthdayBono
8. You can& #39;t find four people more different from each other than the four guys in U2. Don& #39;t rid the room of argument. #HappyBirthdayBono
10. I& #39;m inspired by U2& #39;s decision to keep their base of operations in Dublin--it& #39;s a good reminder to honor and find the good in the places I know best. #HappyBirthdayBono
11. I love that Dublin is also a launching pad for songwriting inspiration, with Bono taking us all back to Cedarwood Road. What might I discover if I chose to make a creative work about the street where I grew up? #HappyBirthdayBono
12. Bono& #39;s fearlessness in exploring his emotional space at any age is a good reminder that I can do the same. Any of us can do the same. #HappyBirthdayBono
13. I don& #39;t want to oversell the naivete of U2& #39;s early years...there was still craft involved. Bono took mime lessons, for instance, to learn about gesture and how to communicate through movement. #HappyBirthdayBono
14. There& #39;s a defiant vulnerability in what Bono chooses to communicate. He took the tragedy of his mother& #39;s death and made it into a lifetime of music. #HappyBirthdayBono
15. His way of talking about, and also not talking about, the role of faith in his life, an experiential sense of God and a "mates" type of relationship with Jesus, brings for me the big questions of existence down to earth. #HappyBirthdayBono
16. If I were to chat about this with Bono, I imagine we& #39;d argue over whether religion is when God leaves the room, but I can see where he& #39;s coming from. #HappyBirthdayBono
