A Concrete Rose #11

"Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty." (Henri Frederic Amiel)

To overcome something takes a lot of strength. When you overcome an obstacle we've defied a sort of gravity. In the poem "The Concrete Rose" Tupac is trying to say how that even in the worst of situations, that you can break out of the seal and become your own being. No one in life is going to push you to any limit, unless you want them to. It's up to ourselves, and only ourselves, if we want to become something more.

When we're born we start learning right away. We learn right and wrong; up and down; left and right. The most important lesson that we will learn is love and how it makes us grow. The love that we receive from other people is like fertilizer, which helps us grow tall and proud. When there's a lot of love, we feel as if the sky's the limit.

When we're older we learn that love can grow to be just another word. Just another emotion or another person who say it as if they're saying hello. It starts to mean nothing when it's thrown around too often. We start to learn that any one person can simply be nonchalant about that word. When that happens it can tear us down. It moves in on us like a cold, harsh, winter storm, while we have no protection and leaves us bear without any flowers and leaves. It can make us grow weak and brittle. But we do have the choice to move beyond that and to overcome those awful heartaches, and reflect on the positive things in life.

In the poem "The Concrete Rose" I think Tupac is trying to make us understand that no one said life would be easy. It will come with hardships, sadness and major losses, but that's part of life. Through all of that mud and dirt will be a greater life beyond that. Although, it will take a lot of determination from yourself. No one will truly care in a couple of years if you failed or succeeded, but you will and that's what will truly count. To be something more it's up to whether or not you can at least attempt moving on to something more. If you fail, then you learn a lesson of what you can do better next time. The most important lesson to learn from this poem is that the only one person who is going to push you is yourself. If you never push yourself then all you can be is the plain, cracked, boring concrete instead of the tall, vibrant rose.

Once we learn those lessons and realize that they are the hardships that come along with life, then we can grow to bigger and better things. Bask in the knowledge from that simple hardship. Create a stronger relationship with ourselves. Then we can truly stand by ourselves. The reason why is because in life, we must realize that we may be part of this huge world, but it will mean nothing without ourselves being there. Because one person makes the whole difference.