Inspired by Purple Rain

You ever listen to a song from your past at the precise, perfect moment in your life? You ever feel like the world is conspiring against you? And it seems no matter how long and hard you trudge uphill, the terrain never levels out? Nor do you reach heaven? And you keep coming up short only reaching cloud 8? And it gets so tough because you feel like you’re doing it all alone? And you want to cry, but you can’t because in order for the world to perceive you as strong, you must look strong? And you can’t complain because nobody gives a shit; it’s your problem? And no matter how infuriating a set of 24 hours can be, you have no choice but to wake up and do it all over again? Has your breakfast ever tasted bad because your stress made you smoke so many cigarettes the night before that they have temporarily branded a funky taste in your mouth that somehow coats your toast like peanut butter? Have you wished you had brushed your teeth before going to bed? Have you ever looked someone in the face? And have them understand from your gaze that you’re having a rough go of it? So that person looks away and walks away too? How much do you appreciate that person? Have you ever loved and not been loved back? By something tangible? By something intangible? By something simple? By something esoteric? By something metaphysically real? By something physically unreal? Have you despised making yourself not love what you once loved unequivocally? We’ve all had to do that at some point. And if we haven’t, then we’re damn lucky. To one or all these things, have you ever?

I’ve seen Purple Rain. It glimmers from the midnight sky and induces tears not felt until you see it. It’s a sadness that comes un-reprimanded by the human emotion, generally engaged in fighting back moments like this. Worse than the bearer of bad news, purple rain is the bearer of bad memories. And once the bad memories come, so do the bad feelings. Uneducated. Educated. We’re all victims of the same life lesson. The same life lesson that teaches us we don’t control our emotions, especially when they come strung together as above. The one great understanding that comes from all of this is the following: To know purple rain is to know sunny skies; though they cannot exist in tandem, they exist in contrast. Thank God for both.