The Fight...

This is from the song "We are Winning" by the progressive rap group Flobots.

It, like most song lyrics I love, is hauntingly poignant:

Rival gangsters sit down to plan an after-school program
A religious fanatic posts footage of an interfaith service project
A group of teenage boys watches a video of a father playing catch with his son
An adult film star paints thumbnail portraits of elderly couples, fully clothed and smiling
A record executive records a demo of his apology
A policeman makes reverse 911 calls instructing residents to take to the streets
A patriot reports for duty
She's wearing an orange jumpsuit and holding a picket sign
She's ashamed of her birthplace
But retreat is not an option

Butterfly wing crosswinds send black hawks toward hurricane survivors
Roses sprout from empty lots and sidewalk cracks
Pacifist guerrillas move undetected through concrete jungles
New forms are beginning to take shape
Once-occupied minds are activating
People are waking up
The insurgency is alive and well

We are building up a new world
Do not sit idly by
Do not remain neutral
Do not rely on this broadcast alone
We are only as strong as our signal
There is a war going on for your mind
If you are thinking you are winning
Resistance is victory
Defeat is impossible
Your weapons are already in hand
Reach within you and find the means by which to gain your freedom
Fight with tools
Your fate and that of everyone you know depends on it.

(emphasis is added)


I mean it's so true. Everything in the world competes for the space in between our ears, from members of the opposites sex to magazine ads.

I believe we become followers of whatever we devote the most attention to. I personally have become enslaved to my own romantic desires, craving a wife so much, I think it keeps me from even attempting a relationship. I'm enslaved by TV, so I don't read as much as I want to, I just veg out to a TV show or DVD. I'm enslaved to a capitalistic system that I don't even believe in that devalues humans in favor of making as much money as (ironically) humanly possible.

We are all admittedly products of our culture. Our family culture, our peer culture, our religious culture, our pop culture, and our national culture. For good or for bad, and almost inevitably. But the beauty touched on in these lyrics, is that we can change, we can rise up, we can be counterculture. Not just different, but counterculture. A vibrant and exciting alternative.

And in going against the grain, finding true life.