I tivoed (yes, Megan and I are now finally amongst the ranks of dvr users) President Obama's speech last night from West Point regarding the war in Afghanistan because I was more than a little curious about what he had to say. Must say that I was a little disappointed in the speech itself, though honestly the overall "idea" of what he was trying to say was encouraging. As I sat and listened to all the commentary afterwards my mind wandered once again to one of Thrice's new songs entitled Circles, and thought that it played rather well to what I had just heard and witnessed.
In describing what his thought process was on the lyrics for the song, Dustin has said that the ball started rolling with some of the writings by G.K. Chesterton. Apparently he focuses a lot on what he calls the "Cult of Progress", and the last line of the song is a paraphrase of a saying that he had, "Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision." Dustin uses different metaphors in the song to illustrate the point that to have real progress you have to be moving toward a specific ideal; that there has to be some relation to something, otherwise you're not making progress, you're just moving. Even though Mr. Chesterton's work was done in the early 20th century it's still applicable today since the world seems to be constantly changing what its vision is, to match where the world is going, and it's very arbitrary. This is why I made the connection to the song last night; once again we have a change in vision to fit our current circumstances rather than making modifications to align us with an ultimate goal. Constant motion without progress.
I won't share the entire song here, but there are a couple of metaphors that I feel are too powerful to not. The chorus reads: We set sail with no fixed star in sight. We drive by braille in candle light. I love the imagery Dustin uses here because it is so simple, and the message clear. Without a fixed goal at the onset, how will we ever arrive at our desired destination? And then he takes it further by using the line (which apparently is a favorite of his), "We drive by braille," which would indicate driving without sight but rather using the bumps in the road to navigate. My interpretation would be that rather than being in a proactive position and taking control, you are rather stuck in a reactive state, waiting for something to take place before being able to take action yourself. No fixed target, and operating with a reactive position; what a precarious set of circumstances in which to find one's self!
At the beginning of the song Dustin sings, "We talk too much, we talk in circles; 'til we're all spinning around. Reaching for rings on this merry-go-round." Again the image he paints is powerful, and useful in our everyday life. In his own words, Dustin explains,
"The image of the carousel was the first thing I started thinking about - this idea of movement, but it's very meaningless, and not actually going anywhere. You're riding this horse that's moving in a circle, and also just that image of the old carousels, where you can grab the brass rings. So the idea is moving nowhere, and reaching for something that in the end isn't ultra-significant."
Once again the call goes out to my fellow lions; be watchful that we don't spin our wheels idly, nor reach out or set our sights on that which truly holds no value. Further still the charge is to align our actions with an ultimate desire, and not allow anything or anyone to compromise our path to our final achievement. My prayer is not only that we be lions, but that our leaders back in Washington will be lions as well. Give us goals, solutions and leadership rather than endless debate and mindless rhetoric. We no longer wish to spin in circles for the sake of movement, but rather we want true progress!
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