The difference between rappers or poets and people like you and me, is that these lyrical gangsters actually say something meaningful with their words. There’s a purpose behind the linguistic wizardry to back it up. All too often, I hear platitudes and mainstream lines. “It’s so hard to have meaningful conversations nowadays” Well said, Edwin, and what does meaningful mean to you? There’s usually a particular kind of silence after an innocent, curious follow-up question like that. It’s like when you jump into a pool and swim to the other side beneath the surface You’re in a different world, you’re free. It’s so peaceful and liberating down there. The only thing you hear is the sound of silence. While you swim in the 25 meter rectangular ocean as elegant and hydrodynamic as a mermaid, you feel the fat of your thighs vibrate with every whip kick you make. You feel the pressure building up in your lungs and wonder why all the shisha smoking hasn’t increased your lung capacity. You start to decrease your incredible speed in order not to bump your head into the swimming pool wall. You emerge like a submarine, breaking the boundaries between water and air. Nothing happened above the surface. Exactly. Nothing happened above the surface. But beneath the surface, you were suffocating a bit and your face looked stupid as you try blinking away all the water.
I get it that it’s difficult to answer these questions on the spot. You’re not expecting an inquiry into your opinion. You expect approval and head nodding. Maybe I’m biased but I assume that conversations about these platitudes are happening more often than conversations on let’s say, universal basic income or the up and downsides of nuclear energy. My take is that people just copy what’s out there. It’s like girls wearing a Jack Daniel’s t-shirt. They have no clue if Jack or Daniel is the first or last name. They don’t know it’s a drink but think it’s a dog breed, a mix between a Jack Russell and a Cocker Spaniel. If they are aware it’s a whiskey brand, they have never drank it. But they wear it because it’s cool and everyone else does it too. Why? “Because fuck you, it’s cool and I’m basic“
What bothers me is that these platitudes are holding us back from what we actually want. Universal truths are supposed to guide us but to where and for what purpose? We don’t really know. Is sleeping with each other on the first date really superficial? Is successfully going on a holiday together really a prerequisite or good proxy of moving in together? Does throwing a 16-pound bowling ball make you more alpha? Is waiting to text back x amount of time really going to increase the quality of the relationship between you two? Yeah, but, no, but, yeah, but, no, but. Exactly. What we need is nuance. When it comes to dating and relationships, few things are all black or all white. Sometimes even fifty shades of grey aren’t enough.
Look at it like this, mainstream lines are like Christmas sweaters. They are ugly, useless most of the time and shrink to nothing when you rinse and repeat.
I know you’re all dying to know how much we scored. I don’t remember anymore (it was six weeks ago) but we both scored at least a strike and none of us had more than 100.
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