Two Singers I admire: Bono and David Archuleta

In the last week, I’ve had the chance to hear about two singers and to think about what I admire in both of them.  It’s a similar list.  One of them is young, some would argue, at the beginning of his career.  The other has had a long and celebrated career.  The two are David Archuleta and Bono.

As I start this blog post, I have to set up the disclaimer.  I usually don’t like admiring other humans. Too often, we set people up as heroes, and then we’re upset when they let us down. On the other hand, I think we should celebrate goodness and righteousness whenever we see it. So, let me say that I don’t know either of these people personally. I have no idea what they’re really like. I don’t know what their struggles have been, other than what I’ve read. I don’t even like every song they’ve sung.

But they have both made some choices in their lives that I find admirable, and I want to point those out.

The first event I heard about was David Archuleta’s return from his mission. I was impressed by this. Here, he’s got a growing recording and performing career, and he sets it aside to serve his fellow humans in relative obscurity in a far-away country. If his mission was anything like mine, or anything like anyone else’s, he probably had a lot of struggles, disappointments, joys, and personal triumphs. I don’t know how well he got along with his companions, or how well they got along with him, but I’m sure they all grew in the process.

Here’s what I most admire him for: he went, he served, and he came home honorably. There have been many others who have had the opportunity and have not done those three things. Others have felt that their fame would interfere with missionary work. I just admire that he made the choice to set it all aside.

The other thing was an interview Bono did with Jim Daly of Focus on the Family. In the course of the interview, Bono, who is by all accounts now, a worldwide superstar, bore his personal witness of Jesus as the Son of God, and talked knowledgeably about the scriptures. In addition to being in the band, he’s worked tirelessly in support of AIDS-ravaged and poverty-stricken Africa. He’s worked with politicians on the right and the left all across the world looking for ways to facilitate funding and treatments.

Again, I don’t know him. I’ve never met him. I don’t know his flaws or his strengths.

I don’t know the hearts or minds of either of these two great voices. So, I will admire and try to emulate some of their great choices, and I will use those choices as examples to teach my family.

Mark has a lifelong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his Dutch Oven blog.