Truth is Cool...

“They say young is good and old is fine
And Truth is cool but all that matters
Is that you have your good times
But their good times come with prices”

            The Avett Brothers wrote the lyric above and it comes from a song entitled, “Ten Thousand Words.”  These brothers, Seth and Scott, are brilliant song writers and eloquent musicians.  Very few bands today write with such gravitas and play with such simplicity and soul.  I have been listening to them a lot lately as I ski and hike, and few musicians go better with the beautiful creation that I am surrounded in here in Colorado. 

            The song is musically brilliant and when they sing harmony it’s truly beautiful.  But the lyrics are where the real power of the song lies.  The above lyric is not only wise, but can sum up our current materialistic and consumerisitc culture that has little depth and substance to it.  People want to be young.  We value youth, but we don’t value the wisdom of age and we are all too scared of growing old and dying.  Fear drives us away from experiencing and valuing the things that truly matter.  Fear prevents us from living in the beauty of the moment and not worrying about past faults or a future of which we can’t yet affect. 

            Truth is cool.  People don’t hate truth, they just don’t value it.  Everything is relative or left up to the market.  Truth is not valued today, but power and wealth are.  Nobody seems to know or care what is good and true anymore and if they do know, they’re become amazing at rationalizing it.  Too many people just want to have a “good time” as the Avett Brothers say, but do not stop to think about the repercussions or the long view.  On all levels our culture tends to ignore long-term effects of our actions and we can only see through such a narrow prism of our immediate selfish wants or desires.

The simplicity of this song and its wisdom is what strikes me.  The humility at which they can write a song that pokes fun at themselves, all while sharing a brilliant message that they have clearly learnt the hard way is refreshing.  It’s a great song and this is a fantastically stripped down version of it here.  I hope you’ll watch and listen to the song and I’d love to hear your thoughts.