Forgiveness

Next Tuesday evening starts the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. This is a day of atonement. Coming 10 days after the new year, one is supposed to ask pardon for all of the transgressions they have committed in the past year. I was thinking about this earlier today, and the general theme of the holiday- that of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is such a major theme in human history, literature, and culture. From the Torah to Avatar the Last Airbender, forgiveness plays a major role in much of society's thoughts. The natural human want, the almost animalistic desire, for forgiveness is astounding. Why do humans crave this so much?

I think it stems from our self-centered need for acceptance. Societal approval means a great deal to us, and it has to humans for the last 5,000 years or more. Forgiveness means having others think better of us, thereby propelling us up in the social ladder, or at least boosting our images in other's minds.

In addition to that reason, I think this desire also comes from our need for rewards. We are taught (by our parents, schools, and most of the major religions) that, even if we do bad things, if we apologize for them, we will not only be forgiven, but we will be rewarded for our honesty. The incessant human urge for rewards also drives our need for forgiveness.

I'm not quite sure where I was going with all of this, but I thought it was an interesting thing that I'd never really thought about before. If you guys have any thoughts on why we need forgiveness, why this theme is so common in society, or comments about my opinions, comment!

Required Reading

Today in class, we had to answer the question, if you had the opportunity to make one book required reading for everyone on Earth, what book would you choose? At the time, I put down Brave New World, but I wasn't satisfied with my answer. A book for everyone?? That's a big choice. I wanted something that would educate people, make them understand each other, open their minds, teach them morals and values. I couldn't think of a book that could do all of this. But when I got home today, it hit me. The book that I would make everyone in the World read is What to Expect When You're Expecting.

For those of you who have never given birth or have never been the partner of someone who has given birth,  What to Expect When You're Expecting is exactly what it sounds like. It gives soon-to-be parents knowledge about childbirth, and about prenatal care and health. This may sound like a rather odd choice of reading material. But, when you think about it, tens of millions of unhealthy babies are born each year, many of which could have been born healthy if their parents knew how to act during pregnancy. If everyone read this book, countless babies who would have otherwise been bore feeble would be strong. This would give millions of children the opportunity to grow up to be healthy and stable human beings. These people would contribute to society. They would be doctors, lawyers, politicians, scientists, teachers. The World would be a much better place if everyone had the equal opportunity of life from birth.

Rap

Earlier today I was thinking about what I'd talk about in this week's post while listening to my boi Kanye West. I like rap, and I listen to it quite often, but I realized that I didn't know the lyrics to the song I was listening to. I started the track over, and paid attention to the lyrics this time. I was surprised. It's not like I expected the lyrics to be deep and meaningful, but I was shocked at just how empty they were.

Back in the days when hip-hop was still young, before I was even alive, rap was much different. Back then, rappers, more often called MC's, were poets, just reading their rhymes to a beat.

Take this line, for example, from Tupac's "Only God Can Judge Me":
    And they say its the white man i should fear
    Buts its my own kind doing all the killin' here

Here's a verse from Talib Kaweli's "Ghetto Afterlife":
    These n****z ain't thugs, the real thugs is the government.
    Don't matter if you Independent, Democrat, or Republican,
    N****z politickin' the street, get into beef,
    Start blastin'... now a new cat is executive chief.

And here's a verse from Nas' "Heaven":
    It's hard taking this 

    Racist planet where they take another brother in a handcuff
    Even if he innocent nicca get on the car put your motherf*****g hands up
    Thinking I'm a lose it
    My mom's in chemo
    Three times a week, yo keep trying but people
    Is hard and God your young soldier's not so bold
    But needs you
    This world's my home but world I would leave you.

These lyrics resonate with me as being poetry. They are not, at least in my mind, "commercial" writing. They are examining the world, making observations, and inspiring the listener to think about things. I think that's one of the main differences between old school rap and the newer stuff.

At this point, I was planning on taking a few lyrics from some rap songs that my peers might be more familiar with. But, honestly, the commercialized stuff that's produced nowadays isn't quotable. There just isn't any lyric that defines just how hollow and fake the rap game has become.

I don't mean to imply that there is no longer any conscious rap (which is what deeper rap is called).

Here's a verse from Bun B's "So Close, So Far", released in 2010:
     Wouldn't it be nice if life was sort of like a dream,
     And everything wasn’t really what it seemed?

     What if everything you ever wished for was in reach,
     And you could learn everything your school didn’t teach?
     Wouldn't it be nice if the banks didn’t f*** up the loans,
     And people ain’t have to move out they homes?
     With no GM or AIG…and for that matter no cancer or A-I-D?

However, rappers nowadays seem to be (in general!) a lot more focused on getting a good product that people will like and buy, instead of being focused on really affecting people.

I think the words of KRS-One's "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Seen)" sum this up pretty well:
     Rappers spit rhymes that are mostly illegal,
     MC's spit rhymes to uplift their people.










Here's a link to some really deep and powerful Tupac lyrics: http://www.alleyezonme.com/poetry/