In Search of Better Stories

Don’t Put the Blame on Me

1.37 billion views on YouTube.
Rag’n’Bone man’s song “Human.” is resonating with a lot of people. I’m one of them. At first, with his oft-repeated line “Don’t put the blame on me,” he sounds like an excuse-making loser, averse to responsibility.

But that is not at all the message of the song.

 

All human beings are naturally inclined to look for a saviour. A person who can swoop down and rescue us just in time. Superman, Skywalker, Wonder-Woman; the list of fantasy saviours is enormous. The list of real ones is even bigger. The only problem is that real-life human saviours can never entirely save anyone. All humans stumble and fall. When the hero’s among us do that, we become embittered against them. Our hope gets crushed with their failure, and so we hate them and blame them. Mr Rag n Bone’s message is clear.

 

I’m only human
I make mistakes
I’m no prophet or Messiah
(You) should go looking somewhere higher.
I’m only human, after all.
Don’t put the blame on me.

He is right. We should lower our hope in human saviours
We should go looking somewhere higher.

Subscribe to my blog

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 190 other subscribers

Leave a Reply

Other Posts That Might Interest You

Wild at Heart

What is a man supposed to be like? John Eldredge has some ideas.

Eagles, Angels And Anzacs

The baldies have it in for the seagull. An absolutely frenetic aerial display over False Creek this morning. A hundred other seagulls are cheering their

Jedi Duel on False Creek

My tranquil morning on the seawall bench is shattered. “Get the F* back here, you son of a bi***!” screams the man from shore. I