Ding. “We need to hear this. America needs to hear this.”
I grudgingly unlock my phone. What Fox News article has my grandma sent to me today? It’s not like I don’t already see her posts on Facebook. However, I am slightly taken aback to see it’s not a video of Sean Hannity’s face, but a song link to R. Kelley’s “I Believe I Can Fly.”
Yes, Grandma, I think we’ve all heard this song before. It’s that song that plays on the radio when you’re on a road trip and can’t change the station. Sometimes it gets remixed and played ironically at clubs. In one of my elementary school assemblies, we watched adult deaf people perform an interpretive dance to this song. However, my grandma was oblivious to the song’s common perception and was instead moved by its genuine meaning:
I used to think that I could not go on
And life was nothing but an awful song
But now I know the meaning of true love
I’m leaning on the everlasting arms
If I can see it, then I can do it
If I just believe it, there’s nothing to it
I believe I can fly
The lyrics themselves convey the power of faith and self-confidence when facing life’s struggles. This applies to nearly everyone and can be interpreted on nearly all extremes, from a college kid trying to get through finals, to a worker trying to overcome poverty. The lyrics, paired with the slow build up to a high, ringing melody, reinforce the song’s universal message.
In our culture, “I Believe I Can Fly” has been popularized to a point where we tend to glaze over its content, almost like a white-noise effect. I realized that by taking this song out of the context I’m used to, it takes on a lot of meaning and inspiration. It’s sort of like the pledge of allegiance, something we used to kind of half-grunt when we’re barely awake at school. But if we were all to reiterate its meaning to ourselves, we could treat it as an opportunity to evaluate how well our nation is upholding its values.
In so much of our daily lives, little things with powerful meaning get washed away. A friend checking if you’re OK. A stranger holding the door. R. Kelley’s “I Believe I Can Fly.” We all need to look at life with the fresh eyes of Grandma. I text her back, “Love this song! Xoxo.”