Everyone has a wake-up call
Everyone has a wake-up call that can be triggered by an event, a situation, a song or a person. "That Power" song by Childish Gambino means a great deal to me. The actual song does not mean an awful lot-even though I love it very much-but the story outro that follows the song. The outro presents the pure Gambino for seven minutes as he takes the audience back to when he was 13 leaving summer camp. The outro is a spoken word talking about him professing his love to a girl he never imagined he would be close to. To his surprise, the girl talks back to him but then tell everyone about his profession. What I understand from the song is not how bad love is or how girls can be cynical and bad but the lesson learned from experience, cutting out the middleman and speaking out the truth from everyone so that they can directly get it from you.
The influence of the song
When I listen to the song, I find myself repeating the outro over and over again because I believe that it has influenced who I am. The song has largely played a role in whom I have become more than I could realize. In my entire life, I have always been torn by lies and half-truths, they always overburdened me and I couldn't even have peace within myself. After listening to the song, I made a decision to uphold the truth no matter the consequence, I became open and made everything that has to be known available to everyone. Being open and honest has not been easy and there are countless times that it has worked against me but the consequences cannot be compared to hiding the truth. I have learned to take responsibility for my actions and never shying away from anything.
A wake-up call to be truthful
The best way I can describe the message in the song is that it is a wake-up call because it has influenced my character and habits. Before, I was accustomed to leaving certain things in conversations and writing but they were often brought back in the future making it everything for everyone. Putting everything out there personally for everyone to have access to is important because I cannot worry about what I did or said getting back to me and everyone tormenting me about it because it is out there already, I already took responsibility for it and nobody can hold me over it. Occasionally, I get tempted to leave out some information during conversations or performing artistic works but the message from the song keeps ringing in my head. I get constantly reminded of how it changed my life and why I should not go back from my word of putting everything out there.
Psychological impact and being true
Psychologically, the experience gave me a different perspective and importantly, I learned to be real, to say the truth to everyone and avoid the middleman stereotype thinking because at the end of it all, everything will come to limelight and everyone is going to find out. Psychology indicates that being true and real helps in upholding morality and credibility. Additionally, living a lie might lead to severe psychological effects because we strain so hard in pretense. Being a teenager and getting exposed to ridicule and frustrations is not a good thing to deal with.
Boosting self-esteem and confidence
My perspective on issues concerned with self-esteem and confidence were low and I thought one was not going to amount to anything important anymore. But on the contrary, implementing the message from the song made me feel much better alive than I had ever been before. Truth and honesty have since become part of me, I have learned to be straightforward and say things as they are to everybody to avoid the after guilt that consumes more than fire. Regardless of the situation, I have learned to always be myself, to deal with matters at hand and avoid making assumptions even to things that may seem to work in my favor. Further, I have felt more confident that anyone can get out of the bondage by accepting that you are wrong and accept to let go of your past.
A life-changing event
One of my relatives got into the similar situation after the 9/11 attacks. He explains that the attacks served as a wake-up call for him to look at life differently. Before the attacks, he used to be uptight, afraid of taking risks, and hated change. After the attacks, he realized that people can choose to be careful and avoid risks but still bad things can happen to them. He figured himself as one of the victims of the attacks who were innocent and did not do anything to trigger their fate but it still happened. After the attack, he changed his life completely and became more open and allowed change in his life.
A transformative experience
Since then, it has been evident that his life took a u-turn; people around him noticed how he became open to compromise and took risks. Additionally, he says that he has himself to testify to the change stating that only he can understand what he felt during the attacks. This is a clear indication that there are events and situations that change our lives in tremendous ways that makes it even hard to understand, it is like a pause followed by a reevaluation of decisions and choices.
Works Cited
"Childish Gambino - That Power." YouTube, 13 Nov. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgVH9vd06Xo.
