Yeah, I'm a BobbySoxer.

People always ask me why I love hip hop. When I ask why it is so surprising it always comes down to how I look. Because my skin is white & my eyes are blue I’m supposed to be listening to country or pop music. It’s so funny to me how society tries to tell us who we are “supposed” to be. So the other night I finally thought of my answer to that question.

I love hip hop because I can relate to it. Now, I don’t mean that I relate to ALL of it. I have never done drugs, I’m not big into drinking, & I’m not a racist. BUT I have had a gun held at me, witnessed cops break into my house, watched my dad get arrested… all before I was even eleven years old.

I get that some rap is pure negativity—but there are also country songs about suicide, pop songs promoting Molly, & rock songs preaching violence.  In any type of music you have to search for the stuff that truly sings to your soul. When I first heard Monsters In My Head by The Game my first instinct was to make my dad listen to it. The song literally describes his childhood. There were only a handful of differences—his brothers all had the same mom, he was younger than The Game when he was first on the streets, etc. My dad literally got tears in his eyes when he listened.

When I was a freshman at the College of Southern Idaho I stumbled upon Logic’s music and once again felt like somebody understood. His songs talked about all of the negative stuff that he went through, but had positive twists to them. Not only was this amazing rapper about the same age as me (90’s kids shoutout) but we both witnessed some crazy stuff when we were young and never gave up. His music literally gave me hope. 

I witnessed more as a kid than most people will in their whole lives, but I made something of myself. Hip hop just gets me.

My new favorite person.

How is it that I seem to trip on the air all too often— & while people are watching of course. Really though, I am so incredibly clumsy. This morning a perfect stranger gave me the best compliment though, “you walk with such grace and poise” he said. My response, said with a giggle after stumbling none-the-less, "thank you so much—I definitely don't hear that every day." The elderly man continued, "Possessing grace and poise does not always mean that you are graceful, but you are one of those people who have an energy that draws others near you. You may be clumsy, but we are blinded by your excellence and don't even notice those small moments". 

This stranger, this kind man, left me speechless. This, if you ask my mother, is a miracle... I always have something to say. I thanked him & explained that there were no words to express my gratitude, but I left feeling dumbfounded. He made my whole day. He was able to look past my flaws & find something good in me. If more of us could follow his example I truly believe that the world would be a better place. Yes, cliche I know, but I don't know how else to describe what I am trying to say. If this stranger could make me feel so uplifted then I absolutely have to pay it forward. 

We are all so quick to bring people down—why not lift them up instead? So from now on, if you notice an amazing quality in somebody, tell them, because they might not know it's there. They might just need you to speak it out loud. I know I did. 

Honesty.

My bike was stolen from the bike rack at my apartment complex in Boise, Idaho. Awesome, right? On a better note, I am trying to stay positive & am hoping that the Boise Police can find it for me. I will be filing a report tomorrow (thank goodness I have the serial number), but this incident made me want to write about how important honesty is. There are so many good people in this world, but it seems that the "bad" ones always shadow over the good. I mean-- often times we pay more attention to negative situations than the positive ones. It's like we are doing it backwards. This world needs more honest people. I want to be able to trust my neighbors. I am going to work to pay more attention to the positive things that people do every day-- the random acts of kindness, expressions of gratitude, demonstrations of charity, etc. 

As for the bike thief-- I just have to say one word, karma. I am a college kid and don't have $500 lying around to replace my bike so I hope that your "grand idea" completely fails. However, I hope that your conscience kicks in & you make some life changes before you go too far down this negative path that you are on. People can change for the better. Every day we wake up & make the choice to be a certain way. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that I get my bike back!