I sit down to write and the words don’t come. The confines of this small space of sacred time stifles my creativity while the stress of life leaves me numb. It’s like the mind going into a comatose state in order to preserve the little energy I have for only the most essential of tasks.
So I borrow from the words of another:
Back in the late 1990s a landmark album was published by a band called Counting Crows. August and Everything After was catchy and poignant and provided the soundtrack for my first year of college. One song called “Mr. Jones” played on repeat, if not on the CD player, in my head.
The man at the bar says,
“Believe in me.
Help me believe in anything,
‘Cause I wanna be someone who believes.”
In a post modern, post Christian world it would seem that we are afraid to believe in anything for fear of ridicule, being played, or worse, being wrong. The general population remains unconvinced about religion, technology, disease and cures.
I wonder, however, if the bigger issue here is that we really just want to believe in ourselves. We want to believe that we are worthy, that we are loved, and that we can do it, whatever it is, if only given the chance. Insecurity and an unstable sense of self-worth plague my generation and, I suspect, are the true source of some of violence, discrimination and hate that we see on the news.
Like the man talking to Mr. Jones, his believe in himself is shaped by his current reality of loneliness and lostness. I think this sums of up most of society, in fact, but this my friends, is another product of trying to live in isolation: trying to make it on our own as if each man is an island. The truth is that we weren’t made to live life like this – we are made for community: communities in which we can see ourselves reflected by those around us and in which we can be affirmed in who we are through our interaction with, and the reaction of, others.
It’s okay to believe. It is also okay to not believe in the same things as your neighbour, friend or co-worker. This is when we learn to disagree well. But even more important than belief outside of ourselves, is belief in ourselves: belief that we are worthy, that we are loved, and that we are able.
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la
Mmm Uh huh
I was down at the New Amsterdam
Staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation
With a black-haired flamenco dancer
You know she dances while his father plays guitar
She’s suddenly beautiful
And we all want something beautiful
Man, I wish I was beautiful
So come dance the silence down through the morning
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la, yeah
Uh huh, yeah
Cut up, Maria
Show me some of them Spanish dances
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones
Believe in me
Help me believe in anything
‘Cause I wanna be someone who believes
Yeah
Mr. Jones and me
Tell each other fairy tales
And we stare at the beautiful women
She’s looking at you
Ah, no, no, she’s looking at me
Smilin’ in the bright lights
Coming through in stereo
When everybody loves you
You can never be lonely
Well, I’m gon’ paint my picture
Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray
All of the beautiful colors are very, very meaningful
Yeah, well, you know gray is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play
Mr. Jones and me
Looked into the future
Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women
She’s looking at you
I don’t think so
She’s looking at me
Standing in the spotlight
I bought myself a gray guitar
When everybody loves me
I will never be lonely
I will never be lonely
Said I’m never gonna be lonely
I wanna be a lion
Yeah, everybody wanna pass as cats
We all wanna be big, big stars
Yeah, but we got different reasons for that
Believe in me
‘Cause I don’t believe in anything
And I wanna be someone to believe, to believe, to believe
Yeah
Mr. Jones and me
Stumbling through the barrio
Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women
She’s perfect for you
Man, there’s got to be somebody for me
I wanna be Bob Dylan
Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky
When everybody loves you, ah son
That’s just about as funky as you can be
Mr. Jones and me
Staring at the video
When I look at the television, I want to see me
Staring right back at me
We all wanna be big stars
But we don’t know why, and we don’t know how
But when everybody loves me
I’m wanna be just about as happy as I can be
Mr. Jones and me
We’re gonna be big stars
This post is part of the 2021 Writing Challenge. This challenge is open to anyone and involves writing on one word a week for 52 weeks. Write for yourself or write for others but either way, please feel free to share by posting a link in the comments (if you’re posting on this week’s word) or post on social using the #2021writingchallenge and tagging me on Twitter or Instagram, or posting on my FB page so I can repost. Happy Writing!
Comment
Yes!!! 100 percent agree. Brave of you to speak on it as most do not …