Echoing in Time–At West End Gallery
What if I’m wrong? What if I’ve lied?
What if I’ve dragged you here to my own dark night?
And what if I know? What if I see?
There is a crack run right down the front of me
What if they’re right? What if we’re wrong?
What if I’ve lured you here with a siren song?
But if I be wrong, if I be right
Let me be here with you tonight
—If I Be Wrong, Wolf Larsen
Fumbled and stumbled across a song early this morning, something to which I am prone. I didn’t know the song or the artist but liked the title immediately– If I Be Wrong from Wolf Larsen. It reminded me of the uncertainty that comes with self-expression, from putting yourself out there for all to see.
In whatever way one puts themselves out there– art, music, public speaking, politics or just yelling out opinions on a street corner– there is always the possibility of rejection, ridicule, or of being proven wrong. Actually, it’s more than a possibility. It’s a certainty because nobody has achieved perfection or is without fault.
Being wrong is a very human thing. Recognizing this and admitting our missteps makes us even more human.
But it can be a scary proposition and can keep a lot of people from expressing themselves fully.
Nobody wants to be wrong nor does anyone enjoys that feeling that comes with rejection of any sort. Owning up to our failures, shortcomings or errors in judgement is not something to be thrilled about.
But there is also something cleansing in it. It brings a sense of honesty and truth to oneself. It creates an uncertainty that questions and seeks answers, allowing for the possibility of new boundaries of thought and knowledge beyond that which we think and know now.
Certainty and denial of our mistakes and flaws is self-limiting, bounded in by the fences of the known and popular opinion. And in an endless universe, one that extends from the deepest parts inside each of us to the furthest reaches at the end of all matter, here is too much to learn and know to be limited by our own certainty.
Whew, didn’t see that coming when I came into the studio this morning.
All from a song. If I Be Wrong, I didn’t know when I walked acoss the path to the studio in the dark this morning. Wolf Larsen is the stage name of writer/musician Sarah Ramey. She is the author of a well-received memoir, The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness, that documents her struggle with a mysterious chronic ailment that plagued her for nearly the past two decades, keeping her from most live performances of her music. In 2008, she was the personal blogger for the Obama campaign, doing much of her writing from her bed.
This is one of those songs that rings the bell for me. Maybe you’ll think the same. Maybe not. No right or wrong here.
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Redtree Times 