With all due respect to Taylor Swift . . . this is fearless

With all due respect to Taylor Swift.

Why not dance in a storm in your best dress alone, feeling fearless?

I have spent some time listening to Swift’s song, “Fearless,” & studying the lyrics.

Now, first I must make this clear – I like Taylor Swift.  

Although there is this part of me who wonders if the young women who adore her actually think about the lyrics.  Because I always wonder about these things.

 'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless
And I don't know why but with you I'd dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless”

In Swift’s song, the narrator is dragged headfirst into the dance. She does not initiate the dance, she waits for his hand & at this point I am unsure whom or what is fearless.

'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless
And I don't know why but with you I'd dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless

As if fearlessness came from without, rather than from within.

The song, of course, is about a first kiss;

Well, you stood there with me in the doorway
My hands shake, I'm not usually this way
But you pull me in and I'm a little more brave
It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really somethin'
It's fearless

But around the song, & Taylor Swift, an equation of fearlessness has been integrated into the minds of all those young women who fanatically listen to her.

A boy will pull you in & make you brave & because his kiss is flawless, the kiss is fearless.  And then so are you.

The narrator is not fearless.  The moment, the desire, dancing in the storm, the kiss – all these things all fearless.  But she is not fearless.  She waits to be led.

And because he drew her in, he made it so she believes she is fearless in his taking the lead.

If you listen to the song over & over, all you remember is Fearless. 

A powerful message.  Not the dragging, not the dependence for validation on the guy who runs his hand through his hair absent-mindedly makin’ you want him.

With all due respect to Taylor Swift, this is fearless:

“Dear brothers and sisters, we must not forget that millions of people are suffering from poverty, injustice and ignorance. We must not forget that millions of children are out of schools. We must not forget that our sisters and brothers are waiting for a bright peaceful future.

So let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons.

One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.”

. . .  Malala Yousafzai’s speech at the United Nations

 “I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me. I would not shoot him. This is the compassion that I have learnt from Muhammad-the prophet of mercy, Jesus Christ & and Buddha. This is the legacy of change that I have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela & Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This is the philosophy of non-violence that I have learnt from Gandhi Jee, Bacha Khan & Mother Teresa. And this is the forgiveness that I have learnt from my mother & father. This is what my soul is telling me, be peaceful and love everyone.”

This young woman & her message are fearless & I wish that all our daughters & sons & nieces & nephews & aunts & uncles & bothers & sisters & mothers & fathers understood this.

Malala has danced in her best dress in the storm & survived.

Fearless.