Eminem's "Beautiful" New Old Story

Many are calling Eminem's new song/video a departure for him because in it apparently gets in touch with his softer side. While this song is definitely softer than most of his typical fare, the inner battle of hurt and emotion that is waging inside of him is nothing new (as seen in several of his other songs... see his video "When I'm Gone" about his life and his mistakes as an example). The difference now is that his one solace, rap music, is not a place of refuge for him anymore ("I'm so ******* depressed...But I just can't admit Or come to grips, with the fact that I may be done with rap, I need a new outlet..."). A touching point of interest is the setting for this song's video... a struggling (dying?) city, with a bleak outlook and hope appearing to be nowhere in sight: Detroit (Eminem's home city).

I've never been a fan of the content of Eminem's (Marshall Mathers) music, but his talent is undeniable. He is truly a gifted story teller and song writer; however, much of that gift is lost in his struggle to find meaning through angry ranting, vulgarity and a seemingly endless downward spiral. My heart goes out to him. Reading the lyrics to his song "Beautiful" breaks my heart even further. Here is a millionaire artist living "the dream" and surrounded by the world and feeling completely alone and without hope (yet trying to offer listeners hope in being true to themselves).

The cards he was "dealt" (being abandoned as a child, struggling to survive in Detroit, his marriage ending twice, drug addiction, etc.) are no doubt tough, but where Marshall seems to miss it is thinking that this is his lot in life, as if this is God's desire for him. God did not place this life on him, it is the product of a series of decisions made by him and those before and around him (parents, wife, friends, etc.). Now as a man and father he has choices to make... does he continue to live in a world that obviously has not brought him the hope or answers he was looking for? Or go to the Source of life and see if maybe there is more to this life than all that he placed his hope in? The problem is, he is a victim of his own choices and a culture that screams "I don't need help - I can handle this on my own!" In "Beautiful" he says:

Nobody asked for life to deal us
With these bull**** hands they've dealt
We have to take these cards ourselves
And flip them, don't expect no help
Now I could have either just
Sat on my *** and ******* and moaned
But take this situation in which I'm placed in
And get up and get my own

My heart hurts for him. The pain he deals with must be unimaginable and unfortunately it does not sound like it is going to be easing up any time soon. Instead of going to the One who can heal, comfort, forgive and provide answers, he turns back to himself for the same tired answers that leave him "depressed."

Parents: Use this video (be careful searching the song or other videos as many are not edited) and talk about "fate." Is this life nothing more than a random series of events? Or do the choices we make (from the free will given to us by God, the Creator) affect us and the generations that will follow us? Discuss the following quote with your teens and how it applies to them: "The choices we make today dictate the life we live tomorrow" (C2). Eminem says in the song that people should just be "true to you (yourself)"? What does the Bible seem to say about being true to ourselves? Being that God made us in His image, who does He say we are?

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