A Most Intriguing Day
Aug 14, 2004 KeepersShare/Save
It wasn’t an especially good day; it wasn’t especially bad. But I’ve never before had a day quite like today.
First off, let me start with a little of the past few days. Since that absurd concert last month, I’ve been on somewhat of a Prince kick. I’ve been discovering new songs, reading Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince, and I even just got myself a dope 80’s ruffled-jacket rockstar poster of the man himself.
Why am I telling you all this? Because after learning more about the life of Prince Rogers Nelson, I realized that in some ways, this man is a role model for me. When he was a teenager, rather than go out and party, he preferred to stay home, by himself, writing music. Later in life, when he was wrking in the studio and people wanted to hang out, drink, and do drugs, he would glare at them, saying “Let’s get back to work.”
At his first concert as an official Warner Bros. artist, the legendary Prince, the worldwide superstar with the worldwide ego, was a disappointing performer – shy, uncomfortable with the audience, even turning his back on them at times.
But thinly veiled comparisons aside, I took one very important thing away from my explorations: Prince believed that he had a mission in life to bring his creative vision to the world. Very simple. And he focussed the rest of his life around that central theme.
I started writing an entry this morning, including some of what you see above, and also the following two paragraphs:
“I too have always believed this about myself: that I am a man with a mission. And I have too often skirted around the issue, beating myself up for not adhering to it, blaming circumstance, laziness, psychological issues, you-name-it.
“But today I submit to you this. Not a proclamation with fanfare and fireworks, demanding change or death. Merely a shift in perception, an easing into a new framework for understanding life. I’m taking my toe out of the water, and not diving, but calmly submerging myself.”
I left my house this morning, entry unfinished. Emboldened by my sense of purpose, I got a few things done, and went uptown to visit my grandmother.
For those of you who have never met her, my grandmother is a spiritual woman. An old Haitian woman with deeply felt beliefs in the power of prophecy and prayer. A strong woman who relies on her cane to move ever so slowly, but whose presence can fill the room.
I entered her apartment, and I saw that she had a guest. Her doctor. And apparently also a pastor.
Shaking hands, I sat down, and we proceeded to make idle conversation. He asked me about my life, what I’d done, where I’d been, where I planned to go – the usual questions a young man expects when meeting people over a certain age.
He went on. “Your grandmother is a special woman,” he said to me. “She can heal people with her touch; she can see things before they happen. She is anointed. She has a calling from God.”
Hmm. After years of Haitian churches, and of observing the spiritual power that my grandmother gives off, this sort of thing didn’t really faze me. But I certainly wasn’t prepared for what he said next.
“The rest of the family never believed in it. And the gift never came up in any of her children. She often shows me pictures of her family, and when I saw them, I knew immediately. It skipped a generation. I told her:
‘Your grandson has the calling. He has a path set out for him by God, and he is faced with the decision of whether or not he will follow it.’”
Um…
Taken aback as I was, I managed a knowing smile, and quietly listened while he went on about predestination and coming to a crossroads and the choices we must make in life.
The subject of course turned to Jesus, leading to a two-hour long argument between me and the pastor about free will, “sexual deviance,” martyrdom, and the reliability of faith.
Neither of us having budged on our relative perspectives, we parted ways, – he off to treat a patient, and I left to ponder my most intriguing day.
August 14th, 2004 at 10:12 pm
I’ve never met a person complemented as much as The Geniuses. I guess being humble pays off in the long road.
(I mean all of this in a good way.)
August 16th, 2004 at 1:54 am
Okay, Healer: grab it by the collar and go. Just don’t start praising the Lord’s Good Name for every goddamned green traffic light because we’ll have to stop being friends except in an ironic way.
August 16th, 2004 at 12:00 pm
Wow, I consider myself a man of science, but I have seen enough movies to know that when a pastor says that you have inherited your Haitian grandmother’s spiritual powers, its the real deal. Thats really awesome.
August 16th, 2004 at 3:53 pm
The following is offered half in jest and half in dead seriousness and all in love: If you ever need anyone to remind you that you are not God, you know where to find me!
August 17th, 2004 at 1:25 pm
Wow, that’s totally awesome!! Seriously brought some tears to my eyes when I got to the part of the pastor saying that your grandma had passed on the gift of G-d to you. And you know deep within your heart that it’s true.
Yo Chloe, cool to hang out with you last night.. you rock!
take care,
soce
August 18th, 2004 at 12:30 am
You rap, last I’ve heard . . .
And yes, definitely cool to hang with you, too. It should happen again. We’re some seriously cool people.
August 18th, 2004 at 2:30 pm
Okay, sounds good. But let’s keep this a secret from Arthur, because I can’t be trusted around the ladies… just ask my gal Emily–
August 21st, 2004 at 9:38 pm
Ush dush san iberquayxa? La Quayxa.
August 21st, 2004 at 9:56 pm
I’m sorry…what?
August 23rd, 2004 at 11:32 am
I think what our friend was trying to say was.. “Why did the chicken cross the street? To get to the other side.”
August 23rd, 2004 at 11:44 am
Yo Scoe, isn’t it “the road”? (Or maybe I’m just standardizing the translation.)
August 24th, 2004 at 9:47 am
Oh no. You done did it now. You showed me your livejournal.. I hope you realize that you are now doomed to an eternity of getting soce-comments for the rest of your posts, now. Oh, the fate that many a quiexa, mle, kimya, unitard, jon berger, todd and so on must suffer!!!!!!!!
August 24th, 2004 at 9:35 pm
OK, you two. Get a room.
August 25th, 2004 at 9:54 am
Sure, if you insist.. aren’t you going out of town this week? Can we borrow yours? Mine’s too much of a mess…
August 25th, 2004 at 9:54 am
Can I join in on that room action?
August 25th, 2004 at 2:47 pm
Have fun Soce and Etan, I unfortunately can’t make it . . . I have to go out of town with one such Arthur the Geniuses.
August 29th, 2004 at 10:53 am
Heh. Soce’s room is too much of a mess so he asks to use Arthur’s?
September 8th, 2004 at 1:45 pm
Is your sister jealous?
October 1st, 2004 at 10:53 pm
I’m jealous.
October 3rd, 2004 at 2:44 am
Yo Etan, do I still get to have a piece of you? Like an ear or a toe or something? In Arthur’s room?
October 4th, 2004 at 7:02 pm
I’m not sure I like where this is going. By which I mean to my room. Anywhere else is OK.
I did not tell my sister because she would probably have laughed at me (as, I have to admit, I would have at her had the situations been reversed.) I’m not really sure what to say about Etan.
And Ken. You will rue the day…
October 5th, 2004 at 5:59 am
I’m not sure I understand why (or how) this got to be going where it’s going. I also can’t believe this discussion is still happening at all. But hey, I can’t always be in charge. I think I lose my powers of control when I am overseas. Drat.
October 5th, 2004 at 1:02 pm
It’s all good. I’m heading off to California in a week or so to escape from the nonesense of the city. I need a break from everything.