Madonna put on a concert in Stockholm, Sweden on Saturday night.
But those in attendance were not merely treated to a bunch of songs by the iconic artist. They also sat and listened to her deliver a heartfelt speech.
Because the Material Girl simply had to say something about the tragic terrorist attacks that took place in Paris on Friday night.
“It’s been very hard for me to get through this show and not forget what happened last night,” Madonna told the crowd. “So I need to take this moment to acknowledge the tragedy. The tragic killings, assassinations, and the senseless ending of precious life that occurred last night in Paris.”
Madonna, of course, spends a lot of her time in Europe.
Not that one has to in order to appreciate the grave, sad, disturbing nature of over 100 innocent people being killed by members of ISIS, of course.
Why did Madonna not just cancel her show in light of the incident? Because she explained that this would have been a form of surrender, a subtle acknowledgement of victory achieved via terror.
The artist also talked about the need for global tolerance in the face of tragedy.
To “change the world,” she said, we need a significant shift in how folks relate to one another, especially when difference make it challenging to achieve mutual understanding.
The way we change the world is not to elect another President, not to kill a hundred more people, the way we change the world is that we change the way we treat one another on a daily basis in the simplest ways. We must start treating every human being with dignity and respect.
This is the only thing that will change the world.
Check out the way Saturday Night Live paid homage to Paris and then view Madonna"s moving speech here.
