58. Salt-N-Pepa, I Am The Body Beautiful
Where does the body end and the spirit begin? Or is it foolish to separate the two, to think of the body as separate from “us”—a vessel for our souls in the best sense, a bag of decaying chemicals in the worst? We don’t understand the difference between aliveness and death, what animates, then disappears. I had a tooth extracted; did the cells of my jawbone miss their longtime neighbors, as trees are said to do when one is cut down? This body, this mysterious collection of atoms that somehow holds together to carry us around, is undeniably beautiful.
Poetry month bonus: "Body," by Alissa Valles.
Salt-N-Pepa, “I Am The Body Beautiful,” written by Cheryl “Salt” James & Bernadette Cooper, 1995.
This post is part of Music 100, a love letter to songs. 100 words on 100 songs in 100 days, running from Groundhog Day through early June, 2025. Inspired by my MFAH 100 project.
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"Studies at the Oak Ridge Atomic Research Center have revealed that about 98 percent of all the atoms in a human body are replaced every year. You get a new suit of skin every month and a new liver every six weeks. The lining of your stomach lasts only five days before it’s replaced. Even your bones are not the solid, stable, concrete-like things you might have thought them to be: They are undergoing constant change. The bones you have today are different from the bones you had a year ago. Experts in this area of research have concluded that there is a complete, 100 percent turnover of atoms in the body at least every five years. In other words, not one single atom present in your body today was there five years ago."
Our souls are housed in a body that is undergoing constant change and as the psalmist says, is "fearfully and wonderfully made". (Ps 139:14)