The Desire To Inspire

Currently Listening To :: Dwele :: Find A Way

Why does everything have to mean something to you? Can't some things just...be?

Someone asked me this question a little while back, and to be honest, I was a little taken aback. Perhaps she was sick of me talking about how the cranes covering the Shanghai skyline to me are a symbol of growth and change in China, how just the right amount of humidity in the air can bring back memories of summer holidays in Malaysia, or even how watching Scarlett Johannson sit in her hotel window and stare out at the Tokyo skyline takes me back in my own journeys...

I don't think I'm trying to be abstract or look for signs that aren't there. To me...well, everything means something to me, while I'm sure they mean something to you too. Opinion, interpretation, symbolism, inspiration. Like a Friendster connection, these words are all linked in my dictionary through a memory connection unique to me.

Because to me, everything exists for a purpose. Whether that purpose is relevant...that's a question for you to answer.

I'm inspired by those who inspire, and inspiring others is inspiration in itself. Sure, writing this blog (in fact, all my writing) is part ego, but I've never denied wanting peer acclaim. But at the same time, ever since I started writing for others, I've always thought that if I can inspire at least a handful of people to nod their heads and say "I can feel what he's saying", then that's enough for me to keep writing.

When the Def Poets took the stage on Saturday night, I wasn't the only one blown away. Each of the 7 poets brought their own styles, and working either alone or together, the crowd was worked into a frenzy on a mix of impassioned spoken word and urban beats. Love, sex, identity, loss, the evils of the donuts formally known as Kripy Kreme Kroissants; all these topics made me sit up, cheer, laugh and go silent in the breadth of the same poem. Watching these artists work their wordplay was worth every penny, even that overpriced ice-cold Becks.

Listening to my preacher at Church on a Sunday night is inspiring too (when my mind isn't drifting). Just the thought of someone committing their entire life to the service of a higher being and forgoing so many of life's experiences is something to be respected; I know that I couldn't.

I close my eyes, and flashing forward are...

Music:activists:books:risotto:cookingwithmymum:theweather:ethnicity:greentea:adrenaline:andPaulMcGovern.

So if you're just be-ing and are happy to be like a bit of an ant on zombie autopilot right now, then that's cool. But me, I'm trying to take a page from Jack, and I read:

"I love discourse. I'm dying to have my mind changed...I want to know, you understand? This to me is the elixir of life." - Jack.