Next Level
12/19/2007
Ignorance is bliss
Too much knowledge is a risk
I just want to be rich
Millions of dollars is my only wish
School is not for me
I want to get a job make some money and be free
I have dreams and goals
And school is getting old
I just want to have fun
I know enough already, I ain’t dumb
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses
Words that have become abusive
We have beaten ourselves with lies
And thrown away a priceless prize
We have laughed at those who have tried to pursue it
Only because we thought we could not do it
We’ve looked in the mirror and seen a movie star, TV star
Sports star, rap star, R& B star
Not knowing our perceptions were wrong
Those artists don’t make more than fifty cents off one song
We try to become them by imitating what we have seen and heard
Only to look up and see our bosses were our class nerds
But here we are standing, sitting, walking, living
Trying to pursue a dream without knowing and forgetting
The tools needed to become our dream
Playing life’s game without enough players on our team
But how can we go on like this
Trying to blow down houses made of bricks
But we are not here because we are oppressed
We are here because we are blessed
We are free to choose knowledge or ignorance
Free to choose subjection or independence
Each choice defines our life
Trying to decipher what’s wrong or right
But how can we make the right choice with no education
How can we move to the next level with no graduation
Freedom is education’s prize
There’s just one thing left to do open our eyes
-“Next Level” by André Lodrée
André is a senior getting ready to graduate at the end of this semester. Last night he presented his senior thesis on sociological and theological views of justice through his analysis, and at times sharp critique, of the criminal justice system in the United States. It was compelling and insightful and ended with his original poem that says so much.
As you’re viewing this screen right now you will notice the logo at the top of the page:
It’s intended to convey a message about personal empowerment, about aiming high and reaching goals. “I can.” What I love about André’s poem is that it speaks about the power education represents—the power to transform our lives and our freedom to say yes to it.
But not just I/me/mine. It’s about going to the next level outside of my own narrow needs and wants. It’s more like DOMINWECAN. but is that ugly or what?
The next level. This semester my freshman seminar class read a book by Paul Tillich, and he talked about surfaces and depths, about going beneath the surfaces of things and people and events and ideas, in order to see and experience what’s deeper, more real, more true, more beautiful than what first appears. But then once we’ve gone beyond the surface, that deeper reality becomes, in fact, a new surface, as we feel drawn again, called again, lured always to go deeper still. “The next level” is never the last level.
Or as Karl Rahner, one of my other favorite writers said, it’s like the horizon: We can get to that furthest spot on the horizon, but when we do, the horizon has shifted. We are oriented toward mystery, he said, we are drawn toward the ever-receding horizon of human questioning. Not like hamsters on a treadmill going precisely nowhere, I’d say, but like seekers who’ve caught glimpses of what’s around the corner, calling us outside of ourselves and into caring about more—a nd into caring about each other as we make this journey together.
André shared with us last night that he feels called to prison ministry, to inspiring incarcerated men and women to rise up, to experience repentance and forgiveness, and to choose knowledge and the pursuit of truth. I hope he meets lots and lots of people in his life.
But we are not here because we are oppressed
We are here because we are blessed
Ignorance is bliss
Too much knowledge is a risk
I just want to be rich
Millions of dollars is my only wish
School is not for me
I want to get a job make some money and be free
I have dreams and goals
And school is getting old
I just want to have fun
I know enough already, I ain’t dumb
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses
Words that have become abusive
We have beaten ourselves with lies
And thrown away a priceless prize
We have laughed at those who have tried to pursue it
Only because we thought we could not do it
We’ve looked in the mirror and seen a movie star, TV star
Sports star, rap star, R& B star
Not knowing our perceptions were wrong
Those artists don’t make more than fifty cents off one song
We try to become them by imitating what we have seen and heard
Only to look up and see our bosses were our class nerds
But here we are standing, sitting, walking, living
Trying to pursue a dream without knowing and forgetting
The tools needed to become our dream
Playing life’s game without enough players on our team
But how can we go on like this
Trying to blow down houses made of bricks
But we are not here because we are oppressed
We are here because we are blessed
We are free to choose knowledge or ignorance
Free to choose subjection or independence
Each choice defines our life
Trying to decipher what’s wrong or right
But how can we make the right choice with no education
How can we move to the next level with no graduation
Freedom is education’s prize
There’s just one thing left to do open our eyes
-“Next Level” by André Lodrée
André is a senior getting ready to graduate at the end of this semester. Last night he presented his senior thesis on sociological and theological views of justice through his analysis, and at times sharp critique, of the criminal justice system in the United States. It was compelling and insightful and ended with his original poem that says so much.
As you’re viewing this screen right now you will notice the logo at the top of the page:
It’s intended to convey a message about personal empowerment, about aiming high and reaching goals. “I can.” What I love about André’s poem is that it speaks about the power education represents—the power to transform our lives and our freedom to say yes to it.
But not just I/me/mine. It’s about going to the next level outside of my own narrow needs and wants. It’s more like DOMINWECAN. but is that ugly or what?
The next level. This semester my freshman seminar class read a book by Paul Tillich, and he talked about surfaces and depths, about going beneath the surfaces of things and people and events and ideas, in order to see and experience what’s deeper, more real, more true, more beautiful than what first appears. But then once we’ve gone beyond the surface, that deeper reality becomes, in fact, a new surface, as we feel drawn again, called again, lured always to go deeper still. “The next level” is never the last level.
Or as Karl Rahner, one of my other favorite writers said, it’s like the horizon: We can get to that furthest spot on the horizon, but when we do, the horizon has shifted. We are oriented toward mystery, he said, we are drawn toward the ever-receding horizon of human questioning. Not like hamsters on a treadmill going precisely nowhere, I’d say, but like seekers who’ve caught glimpses of what’s around the corner, calling us outside of ourselves and into caring about more—a nd into caring about each other as we make this journey together.
André shared with us last night that he feels called to prison ministry, to inspiring incarcerated men and women to rise up, to experience repentance and forgiveness, and to choose knowledge and the pursuit of truth. I hope he meets lots and lots of people in his life.
But we are not here because we are oppressed
We are here because we are blessed
