Bob Marley

“Live for yourself and you will live in vain. Live for others, and you will live again.” Although he died on May 11, 1981, Bob Marley still teaches everyday lessons. I believe he is a real hero still, also an amazingly talented one, through which can be showed through his life, prejudice, and just life in general.

Bob, Robert Nesta Marley, was a black man who lived in Jamaica, was born from a black girl, Cedella, 19 years old, and a white man, Norval Sinclair Marley, 50 years old. As would seem obvious, Cedella’s father was angry about the age difference, but also Norval’s parents were racists. The last time Bob saw his father was when he was 5. Growing up in his teens in Trenchtown, the ghetto town of Kingston (Jamaica’s capital), he was given the nickname “Tuff Gong”, also the name of his recording label, which basically meant to not screw with him. at 14, his mom encouraged him to pursue trade, so he dropped out of school and went to work as a welder’s apprentice. Only after a little bit he got a steel splinter in his eye and quit the job. At 16, Bob found a producer, Leslie Kong, to help him pursue his music career, but not much happened. In 1963, Bob and his friend Bunny Wailer met Peter Tosh and started the musical group The Wailers. Their first single for Studio One “Simmer Down” sold over 80,000 copies. After a while The Wailers signed with Island Studio and released their album “Catch a Fire”. They went on a U.S. and Britain tour and had an opening slot for Bruce Springsteen, but then had to be removed after 4 dates because their performances were out-shining Bruce’s. Bob Marley went on to be highly famous, being named as Rolling Stones Magazine’s “Band of the Year”, given the United Nations’ Peace Medal of the Third War, a grammy, a Star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Time’s Magazine’s album of the Century, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and many, many more including his own day, August 7th! This all comes down to show that no matter how someone starts off, they can always end up making the best out of the events they’re in and ending up somehow making the world a better place, which is the first example as to how he is a hero!
Yes, it’s true as most people who are familiar with Bob Marley he was big on smoking Marijuana. But not only did Bob do it for the recreational purposes he was big on the meditational, spiritual, and healing abilities. Bob once said in an interview, “Now, when you smoke, it make you cool, you know? It make you stimulate your mind, and make you sit down and meditate. Instead a get foolish, you sit down and you can meditate and be someone. Rum teach to you be a drunkard, and herd teach you to be someone.” I think there is a lot of prejudice now a days on people who smoke weed. It’s basically like if someone smokes weed, that makes them a bad person. But really what makes them any worse than the people judging them? Maybe some drugs people take make people not want to be around them because they go crazy. Just earlier this year I was talking to one of my friends about Bob Marley and she said, “You like him? But didn’t he smoke a lot of weed?”. Just because someone smokes weed doesn’t make them a bad person. Also most of the time people think that people with dreadlocks are gross. Well yeah maybe if they don’t shower or something but not everyone with dreadlocks is gross! As said previously, Bob started off with the nickname “Tuff Gong” but later he went on the sing about peace and anti-war, which also shows how most people shouldn’t be judged on where they come from or how they grew up. There is a quote he said once, “Who are you to judge the life I live? I know I’m not perfect and i don’t live to be, but before you point fingers, make sure your hands are clean!”.
Bob Marley stood for many things such as standing up for any race, color, or creed. He sang many songs about this which lyrics from song “One Drop” say “fighting against ism and scism” which has effects in countries where English is hardly spoken. In Serbia, there’s a monument of him that reads “Bob Marley fighter for freedom armed with a guitar.” I think this makes him a true hero, still in everyday life. He still is know to be a fighter for all sorts of freedom and anti-war and prejudice. There is many times where he states that everyone should live happy lives, he even made a song about it! “Love the life you live, live the life you love” is one of many times. People need to start realizing all the good stuff about life and not the bad things which I think can be greatly showed through Bob Marley.
Although he passed away a while ago, his footsteps in life still remain. Through his life, prejudice, and everyday I hope it’s easy to see how Bob Marley truly is a hero. People don’t even have to be a fan of his music to be encouraged by the words he says, even though it’d be hard not to be a fan in my opinion. If Bob Marley is considered a hero, I don’t know any other kind of person who could be.