Kendrick Lamar, fate, and...penguins?

Let's talk about reincarnation.

Hey Sad Girls!

Apologies, I had a Sad Girl Sunday guest post all queued up and ready to go out, but something tugged at my brain, telling me to hit pause. There’s been so much tragedy recently. The ripples have definitely been hitting me, and I imagine you must be feeling it, too.

So, I wanted to take a break and send out something hopeful instead! Well, hopeful to me, ha.

In sad times, I like to rewatch my comfort shows and movies. Feeling frustrated with my social skills always leads me to revisit a particular episode of Recess.

On being queer, weird, and unlikeable.

When I’m burnt out and overwhelmed, I watch Kiki’s Delivery Service. And when I’m mulling over the meaning of life, I press play on Penguindrum.

In Penguindrum, a young girl (Himari) is dying. Her parents are nowhere to be found. Her two brothers (Sho and Kanba) are heartbroken, fearing that they’ll lose their sister as well. But, in a strange turn of events, she lives. All thanks to a penguin-shaped hat that magically transforms her into the Princess of The Crystal in another realm. The Princess tells the brothers to fetch the mysterious Penguindrum if they want their sister to survive. From there, the story turns into a surrealist trip through time and fate.

I’ve already shared how Penguindrum is one of the weird animes that inspired me while writing How to Be a Better Adult, but it’s also a great show to watch when thinking about fate and loss and other matters of the universe. I’m only four episodes into my fourth (or fifth??) re-watch, but it’s fascinating what questions come up now that I’m older and have seen more of the world.

The Questions

Is There Such Thing as Fate?

The show opens with the question of fate. Through Kanba’s narration, we’re told if there is such a thing as fate, then that means we live in an unjust and unfair world, where some are fated to succeed, and others are fated to fail. And when their sister falls ill, Kanba laments and asks if her ailment could be his punishment from God.

While watching, I couldn’t blame him for wondering. It’s true that we’re all dealt a stack of cards at birth, and some just have a better stack than others. Life actually isn’t fair. At all. But does that mean when we suffer, we’re being punished?

Last year, I had a long conversation with a stranger from India who believes in karma as described in Hinduism. He said when you’ve harmed someone in a past life, you live out the other person’s POV in your next life. And then you live out every life there is to live over and over again until you’ve learned enough to end the cycle of reincarnation.

Reincarnated is also the title of a Kendrick Lamar song.

Have we lived other lives before?

In the song, Kendrick explains a “past life regression” session he had and the many lives that were revealed to him. He says he was once a rich blues musician, with women falling at his feet. But he used his influence for bad, lying to the masses. Then he died a glutton, a stingy man who hoarded all his money.

He didn’t learn, so he was reborn.

Then he was a Black woman. A successful singer with the voice of an angel—and an addiction that drives her down a dark path. She turns on her family and turns to dangerous vices, dying alone.

So, she was reborn.

And now? He’s Kendrick Lamar. A humble man who’s open to growing, learning, and changing. A man with righteous anger who’s mindful of his influence. A man trying to end his cycle and receive his reward.

Even in Penguindrum, the concept of past and future lives is explored. In the very first episode, two young boys discuss “another world” and how we’re rewarded when we sacrifice in the name of love. They explain how death isn’t the end. It’s “actually where everything begins!”.

Do sad things have meaning?

I think we’ve all experienced something that made us question the meaning of life. Are we here to toil away, experiencing blow after blow until it’s over? Is there any meaning behind our suffering? Well, in Penguindrum, a character named Ringo thinks there is.

Ringo holds a diary with future events laid out for her in perfect order. She makes it her mission to fulfill these prophecies, even when they lead to pain and suffering. To her, there’s a reward at the end that makes it all worth it.

In Christianity, there’s a similar belief. There are plenty of Bible verses outlining how it’s the righteous who suffer here on earth. And that, in the end, the beauty of the reward will be beyond our comprehension. It’s the promise of that reward that produces hope.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

So, maybe bad things aren’t “punishment”. Maybe they’re lessons. Endurance testing. Maybe, like shadows help us appreciate the sun’s light, our suffering helps us appreciate goodness. Would we even know the gravity of love’s healing power if we didn’t know the pain of loss? Would we truly understand how touching the kindness of strangers can be without experiencing cruelty to measure it against? I’m not sure.

I don’t know what to believe about fate yet. Do I think God has a plan for the world? I do! Do I think I have free will to make choices each day? I do! Do I know what that means, forreal? No! But! I have about twenty more Penguindrum episodes to rewatch so…I’ll be doing that!

Now…that was a lot, but…what are your thoughts and beliefs?

I also want to say thank you to upgraded subscribers! My hope is to have enough to pay those who submit. Right now, we definitely don’t. But I believe by the end of this year, we will! I’d also love to fund giveaways and more. I figured there’d be no harm in sharing my intentions. Have an amazing Monday!

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Read my surreal novel: How to Be a Better Adult

Read my nerdy self-help book!: The Magical Girl’s Guide to Life

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