Living with the Unknown

Flogging Molly. "The Story So Far."  Float.  Borstal Beat Records, 2008.

This song is a good illustration of what it feels like to live with relative truth, in a topsy-turvy world that is constantly changing.  There are constants, like gratitude when we survive and grief when others' don't, but stories we tell about our success and failure keep changing--as new facts appear and old ones disintegrate.  We struggle perpetually to understand, and aspire to act always on our best understanding, but we can never see the whole picture, and so our story is never finished, never perfect.  It is only "the story so far"--whether that means the last five minutes or the last five million years.

You always had what you wanted
So leave it behind
And if the glass isn't broken
Then the future's not blind
All that you know 
Means nothing to you
But it's the loss of control 
That shatters the truth

'Cause the story so far
Is already here
We've made it this far
Through the daggered-edge spears
But life cuts to pieces
Till the wounds hold no secrets
Makes it all who you are

Love craves self-destruction
It's a blizzard in hand
You lay your cards on the table
But you're not in command
So burn with the fire
You so eagerly lit
Watch the flames flicker higher
Say I don't care about me

'Cause the story so far
Is already here
We've made it this far 
Through the daggered-edge spears
But life cuts to pieces
Till the wounds hold no secrets
Makes it all who you are
Makes it all who you are
Makes it all who you are
Makes it all who you are

Though it's bitter the pill
That you swallow to feel
I don't care what I lost
I just thank God I'm alive

Makes it all who you are
Makes it all who you are
Makes it all who you are
Makes it all who you are
Makes it all who you are
   
That's the story so far