Life is a Beautiful Struggle

“Life is a beautiful struggle.
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle.
Some people using their noodle, some people using their muscle,
Some people put it all together, make it fit like a puzzle.”
 
These words were written and recited by Brooklyn native rapper Talib Kweli in the song, “I Try” from the “Beautiful Struggle” album, which was released in 2004. When I first heard this album, I was in high school and I borrowed the album from a friend of mine. I must have worn that CD out because I listened to it so much.

My friend lent me that album for just about a week, and I must have listened to that album on a constant loop for the entire time I had the physical copy in my possession. Every day my friend would ask me what I thought about the album and I couldn’t help but share my pure excitement for this album. When the time came for me to finally return the album to my friend, I couldn’t do it. I had to own it for myself.

Soon I found myself in a music store looking for the album, my allowance burning a hole in my wallet just waiting to be spent on this amazing piece of art. I found it! I bought it! Yet, I never opened the case of the physical copy. Instead, I brought the newly purchased album to school the next day and presented the CD to my friend. I explained to him that I used his physical copy so much that it never actually left my CD player and I wanted it for myself. I also explained to him that I felt better giving him the newly purchased copy as opposed to the copy that has been continuously rotating through my CD player for the last week or so. He accepted my gift.

Talib Kweli is a natural born poet, who uses his colorful words to empower people and give many an outlook on life experiences that they may be unknowledgeable of. For a child like myself, I was able to connect with his lyrics on multiple levels s and gained an introspect look at my life and the lives of so many more. I seemed to soak his verses in and learned from them all, making me stronger and more knowledgeable with every listen.

In 2004 when I first heard “The Beautiful Struggle” especially the above quote I realized that it was a smart album with plenty of uplifting lyrics that one could hold on to in difficult times, what I didn’t realize was just how deep this particular quote would go for me.

“ Life is a beautiful struggle.
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle.
Some people using their noodle, some people using their muscle,
Some people put it all together, make it fit like a puzzle.”

By simply reading this quote you can see that Talib Kweli is summing up life in a single lyric. This thing called life is a struggle, it is difficult at times. Sometimes it seems unbearable or insurmountable. Yet, we fight on.

Too often it seems that our life has crumbled, leaving rubble all around us. Yet, we search on. The question is: what are we searching for? According to the verse it says that we are searching for a suitable hustle. In other words we are searching for a way to re-build our lives from the rubble that we are surrounded by.  We are searching for the one thing that we love to do and the one thing that we are good at. The one thing that we can use to make this a better place for all involved. Talib Kweli continues, as any good writer does, by giving examples of the types of “hustles” that people find.

“Some people using their noodle”-As we go through this life and face our own set of difficult times, we learn a lot about who we are and what we are capable of. One of the ways that people re-build their lives and create a better world for the person around them is that is that they are driven by knowledge. They teach, they create, and they write, they build, they design.
“Some people using their muscle,”- While there is a set of people are using the knowledge that they have to make the world better, there is another set of people that use their hands. They have jobs of labor and service. These jobs are very important to our society and our communities.

So, why was this quote so important to me? Also, why has it become more important to me as I grow?
The world that we live in is a struggle, it is difficult and too often we are left in a heap of rubble as we search through talents and skills to figure out how we can contribute to this world in the best way. The older I get the deeply I understand this concept. Recently I have been spending time search for the best way for me to contribute to this struggling world to make it more beautiful.

Here’s the key to life: Life is beautiful!

Yes, it’s a struggle, but through that struggle that we learn what our strengths truly are and how we can use them to grow into the people we are suppose to be. We begin to re-model the rubble of our lives to reveal a beautiful piece of art. Our past hurts and abuses help mold and shape us to be better people, but in order to do that we need to find a way to fit all of the pieces together, similar to a puzzle.

In our times of difficulty, we need to keep searching, searching for more opportunities to make a difference. In our lowest moments, we need to keep our heads facing our ultimate goals and strive for those goals without wavering. Most importantly, we cannot forget that even though life is a struggle, it is beautiful and it is worth searching through and fighting for.  

“Life is a beautiful struggle.
People search through the rubble for a suitable hustle.
Some people using their noodle, some people using their muscle,
Some people put it all together, make it fit like a puzzle”