I saw something Beautiful today

Bono’s answer caught me by surprise – he said “It’s because our songs have a lot of Joy in them – and there isn’t much Joy in the world today” – he went on to say that Joy is different to happiness and it’s not the same as excitement.

I was a bit perplexed because I would rank “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” as amongst the least Joyful songs I have ever heard – But putting my judgement to one side, I can agree with his view that the world has not got enough joy in it.

Have you seen any Joy in your world today?

Today I was shopping in Halesworth and outside the Co-op there were two ‘older’ ladies laughing and communicating in a very ‘Joyful’ way. I hovered pretending to read the newspapers, to see what was causing such emotion – turned out that one of them had just become a grandmother and they were sharing their experiences of life, love and care and speculating about what life would bring to a little child entering the world in 2009. Grandma had recently lost her husband and although the Joy took a short breath, there was still a reconciliation of the experiences of life (although it did sound a bit like a standard accounting procedure) – “One in – one out”

By Bono’s reckoning this Joy is not measured by happiness or excitement – these two Suffolk souls definitely shared both of these emotions – although I could see what Bono meant –

there was something more ‘giftlike’ in this meeting of lives.