Your Story - Poem
In his video "The Poetry of DNA", the American spoken word artist, Richard Williams, known professionally as Prince Ea, asks a very interesting question. While discussing the importance of appreciating all the factors and components of ones heritage and familial history, as well as ones culture and ethnicity, he asks this,
"Would you define the sky by a cloud? Or how about the ocean by a drop? Or maybe a house by its curtains?"
His message is that one should not define his history by a mere insignificant detail, but rather take full pride in who he is and celebrate his ancestors and history.
As Jews, many times a year and throughout our day we celebrate our history and show pride in who we are. Take, for example, the Pesach Seder, where we annually discuss the story of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Or how about the mitzvah of Tzitzis which we do daily, to show that believe in G-d and to remember that he is everywhere? This also celebrates our unique identity and fills us with pride for who we are as individuals and as a nation.
Based of the line from, Prince Ea, I wrote a poem which I am sharing here. I take pride in this poem, just as I hope you will take pride in yourself, after you read it :)
Yitzy Schweitzer
A question I wish to ask
Would you be alright if I set you
A fun, little challenge, if you will, a little task?
Can you go out in to the world
And define the sky by looking for a cloud
Or how about defining the ocean
By one mere drop of water from the millions around
Or how about this one?
Maybe this one is better, so let me ask another question
Would you define a house
By its curtains?
So, now you’ve tried your hand
At this little task of mine
Tell me, brother, tell me
What answers to my queries did you find
You would not define the sky by one cloud
Or the ocean by one little drop of water, would you, my friend?
But how about defining a house
By its curtains?
No, you still would not do that
Let me tell the reason why that is, I hope your listenin’
Because it is impossible to define something so multi-faceted
With just one piece of information
So, in the same way
YOUR STORY, your life, has many words and chapters to read through
Because every single chapter plays a part
In helping to make you,
YOU
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