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Well. September 13th was the anniversary of Tupac’s death. I will let you read the poem before I say some things:
I exist in the depths of solitude
pondering my true goal.
Trying 2 find peace of mind
and still preserve my soul.
CONSTANTLY yearning 2 be accepted
and from all receive respect.
Never compromising but sometimes risky
and that is my only regret.
A young heart with an old soul
how can there be peace.
How can I be in the depths of solitude
when there R 2 inside of me.
This Duo within me causes
the perfect opportunity
2 learn and live twice as fast
as those who accept simplicity.
~ poem by Tupac Shakur
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Ok. Every once in a while you read something written by a famous, controversial, individual and you get reminded that most of us are alike in how we think about some of the really important shit – Life and how we attempt to navigate it.
Tupac’s poem was one of those things for me.
First of all, stylistically, not a single line or word is wasted. Each line, each word, is thoughtful and thought-provoking.
Second, it’s Tupac. Why does that matter? Tupac wasn’t just controversial — he was a lightning rod for issues. Some controversy created by his own fault and some created by a less-than-understanding, and unforgiving, public. Sometimes that controversy made many of us <me included> tune him out on occasion. I imagine I was not in the minority as a group of people who just began thinking there was nothing truly meaningful to hear from this individual. 2 quick thoughts about that:
- I was wrong.
- What a shame (I missed out on a lot).
◊♦◊
Regardless. I am catching up on lost Tupac time. Let me say the man could put words together in ways many people can only dream of. He was a contradiction <as many of us are> and he had the ability to capture that contradiction in what he said and sang and did.
All that said, let me get back to the poem.
In the depths of solitude. Within each of our own ‘depths of solitude,’ I imagine we all wrestle with some of the same things Tupac did in addition to some of our own stuff. I imagine if we invested the energy to think about it enough we would see that we wrestle so much because of, well, the natural contradictions which reside in almost every one of us.
Peace of mind and preserve my soul.
Never compromise but sometimes risky.
Young heart and old soul <how can there be peace?>
And what an amazing thought he finishes with … for all of us to ponder.
“Learn faster than those who accept simplicity.
Awesome. So rather than have the contradictions split him or slow him down Tupac accepts the contradictions as permission to see the hope, in his own soul-searching <depths of solitude>, to think he can live life, and learn, twice as fast. All the while still recognizing that life is not that simple … yet some accept the simplest path possible.
In my eyes accepting simplicity does not equate to living life to its fullest … but that’s me. And I certainly don’t have the level of joie de vivre that Tupac had. A joie de vivre which was almost a rebellion against simplicity or at least oversimplification.
I envision there is someplace in between all of these contradictions which represents a relatively happy medium.
All my own words and thoughts aside. This is a thoughtful, smart, insightful poem from a man who should have lived longer to share what he had to share.
I will say because he didn’t live longer, we should pay attention to what he did share while he was alive.
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This post was originally published on EnlightenedConflict.com and is republished with the author’s permission.
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Photo by Brunel Johnson on Unsplash
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