Learning To Be User-Friendly

If you know anything about the Shakurs in Oak Park, Sacramento then you know we love to talk about “r/evolution is love”. For us, it serves as our guiding politic if we are being honest; but love looks and comes in many ways doesn’t it? So what does that mean to you, me, all of us?

I have a poem called “what is love?” and in the poem I ask the audience to examine and even respond out loud what love means to them. I usually get some typical answers; words and phrases we all are accustomed and familiar with in association with love — trust, safety, comfort, understanding etc etc. but during one performance a member in the crowd yelled out “conflict” and it caught me off guard like a well timed overhand right.

My life almost always seems to be filled with conflict in some shape or fashion. Resolving conflict is actually an indicator, at least to me, about how deep our love and bond is. Conflict is inevitable in life, but how we choose to engage in conflict is very intimate. Truth be told, I am in conflict the most with the people I love the most. This also means I am also constantly in conflict with myself.

If I really believe that r/evolution is love that I must be willing not just to say that I believe “it’s not enough just to change the system, we need to change ourselves. We have got to make this world user friendly. User friendly. Are you…