This is one of my favorite songs right now (last couple of years). It seems to capture everything about this stage of life that frustrates and hampers what could have been a meaningful existence as a 20 something person. Many of my friends can’t seem to bring themselves to listen to it, mostly because it is a rap by a white guy from Ohio, but I think more so because of how it uncomfortably describes the type of people we tend to be. I am sure that Dylan and Bono have voiced this sentiment already, and probably more eloquently, but right now I appreciate John and his bluntness…

Time to Leave, John Rueben

Taught young, the world’s wisdom
I was told life’s a game, the earth will be your stadium
Be alert, pay attention
(One day) Even your friends will become the competition

Trust no one but do remember this, never burn any potential bridges
Know who’s who, and what they can do for you
And don’t feel bad cause in the end they’re gonna do it to you too

Remember life’s not fair
In order to maintain, your gonna have to let you sensitivity be trained
A machine more than a human being

What you say doesn’t always have to be what you mean
Tell them what they want to hear if it’s to your benefit
And words beyond closed doors are insignificant

Push yourself, never be satisfied
Even if you don’t get it, at least you died knowing you tried

Born, live, strive, succeed
Gain it all, bye, now it’s time to leave
Now, all we see is now

Taught young, the world’s wisdom
Begin to pay attention and make my own observations
All of the kids working hard for admiration
Trying their best not to meet their social expiration
Kind of hard in a world this finicky
Easily praised and yet destroyed just as quickly

I guess me and this world must not be compatible,
cause I don’t want its approval to feel valuable
So who’s next to climb the wall of success,
just to see how good the top truly gets

Chasing lies disguised as going somewhere
only to arrive and realize it’s really no where
That’s even if you get there in the first place
What an incredible let down we’re bound to face
when we substitute purpose for cheap counterfeit
Too busy trying to succeed in life that we forget to live it

You can live in the infinite or give in to the immediate
Gain it all but someday you’ll have to leave it
This world is temporary and it’s heart is selfish
Think to yourself, is this what wealth is

But now, all we see is now and now is not a bad thing
but now does bring tomorrow then
Now becomes then
Moments escape, new ones replace them

Don’t want to face the end still searching
Asking what in this world did I ever find worth in
What could be worse than life of wasted years
Nothing lasting, nothing true, nothing dear

I fear losing beauty in pursuit of bigger things
I fear a broken home courtesy of the American dream
Maybe that’s just me with my emotions on my sleeve,
but one way or another we all wear what we believe

Born, live, strive, succeed
Gain it all, bye, now it’s time to leave
But now, we’re wasting now

If asked where exactly this advice comes from, we would be hard pressed to give a concise answer, but nevertheless we have been given this subconscious impression from the “world” and all its forms of influence, even its well meaning mentors. It causes dissatisfaction in everything that could have been good. Its the advice that is snuck in as a tagalong cancer on the dawn of adulthood. People who have “made it” and formulated it just can’t help but to share it. All the subtly cut throat approaches to life are promised as a best practices method for keeping from becoming a victim of others. In the end you are still victimized, by yourself.

The antithesis is a small piece of counterintuitive advice that is completely liberating, but simultaneously terrifying in its simplicity…

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

Matthew 16:25

Categories: Music