Flaws

As you may have discovered by now, my writing is often inspired by music. Though I can't sing, or play an instrument, or dance to save my life, I do appreciate music and the power it holds.

For the past month, I've had a certain song stuck in my head. Really, I shouldn't say "stuck", because that implies the song is annoying. So, I guess I should say this certain song has made a home in my brain.  For a while now, I've heard this song on the radio. And you know how radio stations work. They play the same popular songs over and over until everyone is practically begging them to play anything else. Well, this particular song has become popular. And it's by a band that is on the rise.  So, yes, I've heard it more times than I can count. But I am not irritated by it. In fact, every time I hear it, I focus on it, and analyze it, and appreciate it a little more.

The song is "Flaws" by Bastille. Let me share the lyrics with you:

·                  When all of your flaws and all of my flaws

Are laid out one by one

The wonderful part of the mess that we made

We pick ourselves undone

 

·                  All of your flaws and all of my flaws

They lie there hand in hand

Ones we've inherited, ones that we learned

They pass from man to man

·                  There's a hole in my soul

I can't fill it, I can't fill it

There's a hole in my soul

Can you fill it? Can you fill it?

·                  You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve

And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground

Dig them up; let's finish what we've started

Dig them up, so nothing's left untouched

 

·                  All of your flaws and all of my flaws,

When they have been exhumed

We'll see that we need them to be who we are

Without them we'd be doomed

·                  There's a hole in my soul

I can't fill it, I can't fill it

There's a hole in my soul

Can you fill it? Can you fill it?

 

·                  You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve

And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground

Dig them up; let's finish what we've started

Dig them up, so nothing's left untouched

·                                   

·                  When all of your flaws

And all of my flaws are counted

When all of your flaws

And all of my flaws are counted

 

(I left out the last part since it repeated earlier lyrics)

 

Now, I wouldn't dare try to interpret what the writer thought or felt. No, I can only tell you what the song makes me think and feel.

This relates to a subjects I've touched on before: humanity, judgment, love, and acceptance.

We are all flawed. Very, very, very flawed. Some of us accept it. Some of us deny it. Some of us wallow in it. And some of us refuse to let it get us down. Some of us "wear our flaws upon our sleeves," while some of us "bury them deep beneath the ground."

As I told you before, when I was younger, I wanted to rebel against society, and what I felt were stifling, unfair rules. I didn't want to conform. And so I wore my flaws proudly upon my sleeve. As I got older, I wanted to bury those flaws. I wanted to escape judgment and scorn. It wanted love and acceptance. I think that we all go through periods of flaunting and burying. Or we constantly strive for balance between the two. We want to be better, but we don't want to be fake or forced to conform. We want to be ourselves, but we want to part of the brotherhood of man.

We are human. And part of what makes us human is our flawed nature. Our imperfections shape us, differentiate us, make us individuals. They also make us part of this large family known as humankind. When you think about it, all of us have similar flaws. Maybe to varying degrees, but still very similar. We are all selfish, self-centered, pleasure-seeking creatures. We are driven by a handful of instincts. We desire, we hunger. We use, we abuse, we take. And whether by nature or nurture, we can't escape the grasp of many of these flaws. We inherit them. We learn them. We pass them on. Generation after generation, we strive to fight against our darker selves, to "fill the holes in our souls."

Perhaps, we are all crying out to each other, to our loved ones, to our friends, to "fill those holes in our souls" because we can't. I look at people in everyday life, and I see how we criticize each other, put each other down, point out each other's flaws. I watch TV. and read the news and see how everyone criticizes everyone else. We criticize people we don't know. We criticize celebrities whose flaws are showcased to sell magazines and air time. We point and laugh and look down our noses and spit and turn away. We judge and judge and judge again. We blame and shame. And maybe that's part of the problem. Maybe that's opposite of what we need to do. Maybe what we should do is help to fill the holes in those souls. Maybe we should teach and guide and lift each other up. Maybe we need to love and accept and forgive. Maybe we need to face the holes in our own souls and ask for the help we need to fill them. Maybe helping others fill their holes allows us to fill our own. And maybe love is the only thing that can fill them.

And maybe our flaws help create this "wonderful mess" that is humanity. Maybe our flaws help us connect with others. Maybe our flaws force us to learn, to improve, to change, and to create. Maybe without them we would be doomed. Doomed to a life without color, without adventure, without discovery.

So, let's dig them up. Let's face them, face ourselves, and face each other.