Meeting Bono

People have watched so many American films that when they finally come to NY, they are counting on a miracle. And if not a miracle, then at least something amazing enough to make their Instagram account explode. Everyone walks around in excitement and looks for… one doesn’t even know for what exactly. That’s why I was so amazed by a situation I saw recently.

It all happened in a garden of a restaurant in Chelsea. At one table, there was a guy looking exactly like U2’s Bono – uncannily so. As soon as he took his seat, heads started to turn towards him, and 5 minutes later passers-by started to stop and look. It started to get wild. People started to make requests for pictures, which gave courage to the restaurant guests coming from the inside. A picture after picture – a crowd started to form.

The commotion got the attention of people driving by in their cars – they slowed down to take a picture, as well. One woman insisted to buy “Bono” a drink and asked the waitress to put it on her bill. Everything took about an hour until “Bono” started to leave the place. Before he left, I started to chat with him and asked him if those people knew he wasn’t the real Bono. He said: “I think they don’t, but I don’t really lie to them. They ask me if they can have a picture taken with me and I say yes. It doesn’t cost me a thing, and I make their dream come true”. When asked if he uses his face for profit, he said his friends keep telling him to make his living off the striking resemblance – and he actually did so on occasion. It happened that he was hired for events as Bono. He was able to draw thousands! I am sure people looking at us were envious of my little chat with Bono.

Finally, „Bono” asked the waitress to charge him for the drink the woman got him. He told me he “didn’t want to take advantage of those people”. The waitress told us that someone just called the place, asking if Bono was there.

The whole situation was hilarious, but I couldn’t help but wonder: is the need for a miracle so great, we actually end up creating ones for ourselves?

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