Perspectives

Yesterday Nipsey Hussle died. Rapper to some. Visionary to others. Father, son, brother, and friend to a few. Humanitarian and man of the people to most. We met a couple times, were from the same hometown on Los Angeles’ westside, and we travelled in some of the same circles in the LA entertainment orbit but I can’t say I ‘knew’ him. Still…I can feel it.

“Whatever the cause, I feel the collective mourning that the loss of one so vibrant, so focused, and so generous... ”

Perhaps it’s because I know what it is to lose a friend/lover/parent. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been thinking of one of my own favorite persons a lot lately (I actually put Jermaine’s number into my Verizon login a few days ago as I went to pay my bill 🤦🏽‍♀️). Perhaps it’s because I am empathetic to the great losses my fellow homegrown LA natives have been rocked by in the last couple years. Whatever the cause, I feel the collective mourning that the loss of one so vibrant, so focused, and so generous once more has had on us all. 

Over the last couple of years, I’ve adopted a coping mechanism of walking when I’m feeling heavy and need to process. Anyone from or living in LA knows we don’t walk. Anywhere. Ever. On a recent brief visit back home, I walked two blocks to the neighborhood Target to get some things and my friend was so horrified upon hearing it that she jumped into her car to rescue me from such a terrible return-trip fate. LOL! But walking was the order of the day today so I took a stroll down to our private nearby beach abutting the Sea of Cortez to sort myself out. 

It’s the end of whale season here in Cabo and everyone keeps telling me how “las ballenas’ are gone...but they aren’t. Not all of them. You can always spot where the remaining stragglers are by the cadre of boats that congregate around a small circle on the Sea. Watching from the shore, my eyes were drawn to the enthusiastic spouts of water from the partially submerged mama and baby giants and the squeals from the tourists who had lucked up enough to get close to the money shots they’d specifically set out to capture this morning.

“They weren’t wrong and neither was I. We just had different ideas of what was ‘happening’ because we simply had different perspectives. ”

But then, off to my left - where there were no boats, no tourists, no cameras, no one paying any attention - was a second pod lazily swimming, spouting and breaching. And no one saw it. To those engaging with the first group, the world they inhabited at that moment was complete. Nothing else existed. But from the shore, I could see that there was a whole ocean wherein many other spectacles, wonders, and life were happening.

They weren’t wrong and neither was I. We just had different ideas of what was ‘happening’ because we simply had different perspectives. 

Make no mistake: Death is our enemy. It’s not supposed to exist. Our internal cellular makeup understands this. It’s the reason scientists have long been befuddled as to why we die based on the observable truth that our bodies are constantly regenerating themselves. It’s the reason we feel the way we do when someone we love - whether we personally know them or not - is abruptly gone. And believe me, whether due to a long illness or a sudden departure, every death still seems abrupt. 

Each of us have our part to play in this life before the days appointed for us wind down. King Solomon - by all accounts, the wisest and wealthiest king ever to live - after enjoying great wealth and everything money could buy concluded that life was vanity - a puff of air - and then was gone. He further deduced that we all should eat, drink and be merry until then. I agree with that and I know I have no shortage of company if entertainment outlets and social media are to be believed.

“When we begin to know that eternal life has always been ours...our perspectives on the significance of the number of our days will begin to change...”

But before he came to this more narrowed perspective, he occupied another: He was the appointed and prophesied harbinger, architect, and steward of decades of peace for all of his family, friends, and those under his rule and influence after decades of bloodshed, death and war at the hands of his father, King David. He had a very specific part to play out - HEALER - against the tapestry and backdrop of his time as we all do. And he knew it. 

When we begin to know that eternal life has always been ours to possess and enjoy - indeed, it is woven into our very DNA - our perspectives on the significance of the number of our individually allotted days will begin to change. Instead, we will focus on the significance of the quality of our individually allotted days and what we choose to use our limited time to do. 

For my part, I have made my peace with the fact that I am not going to make it out of this life alive 😉 I am no longer concerned with how many days I have left outside of the context of how much time I have to fulfill the purpose for those days. My friends call me ‘death woke’. Perhaps it’s true.

But when you know how and how much you’re loved by the One who made you - the One who wove eternal life into your being before you made your appearance on this grand stage of life; the One who promises that in Him there is no death - you stop worrying about which exit door you’ll take into the next experience or when. Your perspectives change. 

Quality will always beat quantity. May we all live our lives with such joy, power and touchable significance that, when our time comes, the quality of what we gave and what we left makes as indelible a mark on the world as this man’s life did for so many.

May we all be so fortunate.

RIH Nipsey 🙏 Godspeed 🦋

And may the God of all comfort and peace bring comfort and healing to all who’ve been touched by grief and all who mourn… For, indeed, God is near to the broken-hearted ❤️