Bono addressed 14,000 women in Long Beach, Calif., this week at The Women’s Conference 2008. The following is an excerpt from his speech from Alternet, a great alternative news source

Rock stars have two urges. (No, really, just two.) They want to change the world, and they want to have fun. And I believe we can’t do one without the other. It’s like music — no one trusts music that lacks joy. It’s the life force in rock and roll that we love. Especially in serious times, in traumatic times. We need to dig deep to find joy.

So let me repeat, we are here tonight because we want to change the world in a tiny way in our ‘hoods or in a grand way in our global community and in so doing, find our joy. But we can’t change the world without first changing the way we look at the world. The way you behave in the world depends entirely on the way you view the world. Weltanschauung is what the Germans call it.

Californians call it your attitude … dude.

My worldview was shaped by rock and roll. Growing up in the depressed Dublin of the ’70s, music was like an alarm clock for me. It woke me up out of suburban slumber. It made me believe that my life could have some purpose outside of 10 Cedarwood Road.

It was the time of punk rock. No more flowers in our hair … no more flowers, period. I was weaned on the Clash. The Clash’s music was like a public service announcement … with guitars.

Three teenage boys and me, made some music of our own. That was the plan.

But in the mid ’80s my life — not just my hairdo — changed in unexpected ways.

U2 became part of the phenomenon that was Live Aid, We Are the World, Feed the World … do you remember that? Continue Reading »

“I believe we have what it takes to change the world and solve key world issues right now. The resources are there if we connect them in the right ways. Humanity Unites Brilliance is that HUB of humanitarian change. It is a central uniting source for people and organizations to come together and move our world from survival to self-sustainability to self-empowerment. This requires the HUB product that provides life-vital nourishing food and clean water and also education to children and microcredit to the caregivers. With this product HUB is planning on building out thousands of communities around the world.”

Charlie Stuart Gay, HUB Founder

I recently spent an afternoon and evening with an extraordinary humanitarian, Charlie Gay, one of the founders of Humanity Unites Brilliance. You can learn a lot from the language of a man but far more from their vitality and empathetic capacity. In this regard, Charlie shines and his concept and team are simply brilliant. I have spent the past thirty years visiting companies and talking with founders about their work and I have never been more impressed. As Cher’s concert promoter and manager, Charlie could have retired on his share of earnings from her infomercial and concert income or been paid handsomely to produce infomercials for others but he chose instead to use his immense creative and intellectual capital, his network of A list celebrities, business and political leaders and his deep commitment in service to humanity during this critical period of immense societal challenges.

To accomplish his noble vision, Charlie has attracted a world class management team and faculty that mirrors his commitment and is rare in its capacity to deliver highly useful personal and business training. At the same time HUB applies the highest level of integrity and rigor in it’s non-profit partner selection process. While the descriptive information below explores the HUB world in words, it is the invisible dimension of heart and soul that illuminates HUB’s vision in action. HUB can best be defined as a Magnificent and Loving Movement and a Social Network. Continue Reading »