Songs I Cannot Sing (Volume 5): Don’t Laugh At Me

Day 124 (Written Saturday April 14) ~ I hadn’t heard this song in many years when it popped up on my iPod today while it was randomly shuffling. The song is Don’t Laugh At Me by Mark Wills. Even though I am not much of a fan of modern country music, this is a song that can really knock the breath out of me. The first half of the song is touching as it shames us for judging, or better yet mocking, people for their appearance or their mistakes, but nothing that I can’t take. The second half of the song, well that’s another story. Those verses don’t fight fair. In case you haven’t figured it out from reading the previous blogs about songs I cannot sing, my weak spot, my achilles heel, is song lyrics that remind me of my family and have a sad connotation. “I’m the cripple on the corner, you’ve passed me on the street, and I wouldn’t be out here begging if I had enough to eat, and don’t think I don’t notice that our eyes never meet.” These words alone are enough to start delivering body blows to the heart that soften it, but it is the next line that delivers the knock out blow for me. “I lost my wife and little boy when someone crossed that yellow line, the day we laid them in the ground is the day I lost my mind, and right now I’m down to holding this little cardboard sign.” I’m done, hand me the Kleenex, cue ugly, grimacing, cry face. The preacher in my wants to say that if I experienced something like that, I would be strong, my faith would sustain me, I would be an example to others of how to move forward as a Christian in the face of crisis, but the husband and father in me isn’t quite as confident. If something like that happened to my family, there is a very strong possibility that it would be the end of me. Maybe my faith would rise to the occasion and God could use me to be an example to others, but I also might end up homeless and wandering the streets not caring about anything. If you think I’m a crybaby for how these songs affect me, that’s ok, I understand. Just don’t laugh at me.