The first two sentences of the song put forward three fundamental principles of
secular living.
“Because you never know where life is gonna take you [doubt]
and you can't change where you've been.
But today [The Here-and-Now], I have the opportunity to choose [individual choice].”
and you can't change where you've been.
But today [The Here-and-Now], I have the opportunity to choose [individual choice].”
Secularity to my understanding is not a dogma
but a suggestion. A suggestion to use our faculties to question the world
around us, to cast doubt on everything around us. It is a suggestion to
concentrate our efforts on the here-and now, on what we do and feel today (not
yesterday and not tomorrow), because today is what counts, today I want to
laugh, love, be full of happiness and joy. And finally, it is a suggestion to
take responsibility, to take action, to choose.
Arie stresses that one should live their
life for themselves (individualism anyone?!) putting herself in the middle of
it all, not a man not her mom. Her bridges are a call for self-definition – do
not let anyone tell you who you are, not even your own memories. Every day is
an opportunity to choose, so CHOOSE what kind of a person you want to be.
My last point is more of personal reading rather
than a supported inference form the text. However, I CHOOSE, to read her chorus
as an aspiration for humanism. To be the best that we can be.
 |
| India Arie Jul 11, 2006 ℗ Motown Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc. |
