He was a symbol, not only in the minds and hearts of generations of music fans but as a representation of how Prince saw humanity and viewed himself in the rawest sense of being. When he originally stripped himself of his given name, replacing it with a symbolic and twisted montage of gender representation, I did not understand. From what I remember reading and hearing in the media, neither did most of the world. We mocked the "Artist Formerly Known as Prince" for eschewing our society's traditional means of identification, our name.
It was not until the day following his death did I understand. I went to bed the night before grieving. Not only for the talented soul we had just lost, but for the passing of another part of my long past youth. As a member of the generation who celebrated high school through his music, I was overcome by the flood of memories of dances, pep rallies, and the drive in theater date in which we watched Purple Rain in awe because the movie had a raw passion that called out to our generation, beckoning us to explore the creativity and uniqueness within.
While I fell asleep to the blurriness of my tears Thursday night, I woke up Friday with an unforeseen clarity. For the first time, I knew what the symbol meant, not only for Prince but for all of us. We are all the same. We are man, we are woman, and we are human. Instead of the constant labeling which our society adores, we just are. We exist together. His symbol was not about coexistence amongst race, religion, gender, disability, or age, but it represented that we unite as one, the human race.
So often a performer, a song, or a body of work is in the right place at the right time and touches us beyond the immediate enjoyment. In the days since his passing, I have yet to pay tribute to Prince through his music, except for watching the Broadway tributes in his honor. The pain is still too raw. Instead I sit here and think back to all of the times that Prince was within me. To the first time listening to the forbidden lyrics with my friends at lunch, watching the early videos with envy because we wanted to be Wendy and Lisa, and to Going Crazy at that pep rally. Thank you Prince for all you taught my generation about being ourselves at the same time we can all be one.