The rose that grew from the concrete.

What do Tupac, the youngest MVP in the history of the NBA a.k.a. Derrick Rose, and best-selling author Steven Pressfield, have in common? I’ll tell you.

Steven Pressfield

A friend recently gifted me Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art , which on the cover, shows a poppy growing out of a block of stone, which perfectly represents the books theme of overcoming resistance.

Derrick Rose & Caleb Wilson

I never gave this illustration much thought. In fact, I had never given it any thought until I came across a completely unrelated (or maybe-not) video of the Chicago Bulls’ newest pick, Caleb Wilson, talking about the metal rose pin on his draft suit. The rose was meant to pay homage to Chicago’s former superstar Derrick Rose. What was even more interesting to me is what him highlighting it as “the rose that grew from the concrete.” Immediately I thought of the cover of The War of Art.

Tupac

After doing a quick google search, I came across Tupac Shakur’s poem, also titled, “The rose that grew from the concrete.” Here it is:

Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
- Tupac Shakur

Now It’s not hard to see how these people overlap. All of them carry a fundamental belief in working on their craft no matter what obstacles they have in their way. They’re aware of the resistance we all face internally and externally. They’re also aware that we can beat resistance at its own game, by being even more resolute and implacable than it is, as Pressfield puts it.