Someone Can Fix You a Plate, But No One Can Force You to Eat
The summer playlists are now in full effect. You get the mixture of soca, hip hop, and rap all in one in a carefully curated sequence. Occasionally, you hear a track that not only makes you bop your head from left to right but also taps into a part of your brain that makes you think a little deeper about the message the song is trying to deliver.
Listening to Peng Black Girls by Enny & Amia Brave gave me this feeling of curiosity where one lyric in particular stood out to me:
“Someone can fix you a plate, but no one can force you to eat”
While there are many possibilities of how you can interpret this lyric, I am forcing you to read about mine which I know you will all enjoy. Leggo!
There are times where people can create certain situations for you in either your worst or best interests. A friend may show you a way to make quick cash under the table without any strings attached. A job offer can randomly be presented before you by a colleague who gave you the ultimate recommendation. Or better yet, someone can advise you to purchase Almond milk to better your lifestyle in all areas (I am an advocate for this).
This is the metaphorical plate that is created by someone else. The plate is “fixed” with something you consume to trigger a reaction within you. Whether it is comfort, disgust, enjoyment or sadness, the plate has created a scenario for you which gives you a choice.
Now focus on the word “force”. The plate is made by someone else but they are not forcing you to eat it. Because you have to make the decision yourself, everything relies on you.
The key is the decision you make after this plate is put before you. You decide to either indulge yourself or push the plate to the side.
You aren’t forced to take whatever it is in front of you. You don’t need to necessarily take the job offered to you if it doesn’t align with your career goals. You don’t have to take the advice of purchasing and drinking almond milk by someone else (but you should, you really should).
And while you think this may be stating the obvious, you’d be surprised how a simple plate can persuade someone to eat what is before them without considering the outcome of what you consume.
The presentation of the plate alone can look so enticing it makes you think the food on the plate isn’t so bad and it’s the ideal thing you need. Your thoughts may alter because it “looks great” and if it looks good we may naturally think that it should feel good.
But we know better to not go off pure appearance when making a judgement call. We know better than to automatically do something because someone else told us it would be good for us. And just because someone else created the plate set before you, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right food for you to eat.
Thanks for reading, share with a friend, and answer the question below!
