11.13.2008 — The Beautiful Struggle

It’s in those dark times, those desperate situations, that a beautiful soul is revealed. It’s through hurt and sorrow that we see the depths of the beauty a soul has. The pain you feel is real, but the hope you have redeems the pain, gives it purpose. Every laugh in the face of your trials is proof that what your are suffering is not in vain, it’s changing you, it’s stretching you, it’s growing you, It’s making you more like Him… more and more beautiful.

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I wrote this a while ago, back in high school, but its message is the theme of Episode 2 of Maxine’s Midnight Mixtape, The Beautiful Struggle. I’d been going through some things, friends are going through even bigger things, and I wanted this show to illustrate that even through the drama and struggle of life, beauty can arise.

King of Sorrows, by Sade is a long time favorite for me and was one of the first songs that came to mind when putting this together. The video is really beautifully done and has always haunted me. Fighters by Lupe Fiasco also got played, as well as Sunset Road by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, by Dylan Thomas, was our featured poem for tonight. Our guest reader did an amazing job of conveying the “beautiful struggle” within the piece, and if you’d like to hear more of the young man who read this piece I suggest you keep listening to the show.

Despite all the struggle and the pain depicted in the music tonight, the show ended off with “You Be Alright” by Musiq Soulchild.

Because, at the end of the day, the greatest beauty of the struggle is that it will come to an end, one day.
Next Week’s Show: Bossa Nova Urban Classical. Huh? you may ask. Find out next week!

~ by Miss Maxine on November 15, 2008.