U2 frontman Bono received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Saturday, and in honor of the occasion he’s penned a new essay for The Atlantic, titled The Gorgeous, Unglamorous Work of Freedom.

“Freedom is a word that turns up with embarrassing frequency in rock-and-roll songs,” he writes. “How we love to free-associate about freedom. On occasion, we’re good for a ‘Chimes of Freedom’ (at least Bob Dylan is), but if we’re honest, the freedom musicians are most interested in is our own.”

“Rock and roll promised a freedom that could not be contained or silenced, an international language of liberation,” he adds. “The freedom songs of the folk singers went electric, the coded messages of gospel music burst into the full flower of funk and soul.”

Bono writes about the activist work he’s done over the years and ponders the state of freedom now, in particular in the U.S. after the recent election, in Ukraine, in the Israel/Gaza conflict and more. 

“Is the Medal of Freedom a nostalgia act? Is freedom itself a nostalgia act?” he asks. “Maybe the idea of freedom as a guarantee. But not freedom as a mighty, worthy struggle.”

Bono also writes of working with then-senator Joe Biden 25 years ago on canceling developing-world debt, noting, “That’s the kind of fighter you want on your side.” He adds the fight for freedom needs “faithful, stubborn, unselfish effort.”

“Lincoln spoke of a ‘new birth of freedom,'” he concludes. “I think he meant that freedom must be re-won by each generation. That is a fine call to action for a new year.”

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