Irish worship band We Are Messengers recently released their new EP, entitled Honest. One of the tracks on the EP is called “Maybe It’s Ok,” a song of great significance, especially in today’s world.
American society is pervaded by an invisible epidemic, with symptoms difficult to detect. It’s not a physical disease. It’s a spiritual/soul illness, called shame. Shame is vastly different from guilt. Guilt stems from carrying out a particular action, like stealing a candy bar or being mean to a friend.
Shame is when someone is embarrassed or guilty because they exist. They believe they are worthless, disgusting, and abhorrent. Not for a specific reason, but simply for being alive. They are not the best, the highest, or the most beautiful. And they are ashamed because they’re not.
The shamed feel like they are defective, like they don’t deserve to exist. They believe they are unlovable; they are a mistake; they believe they shouldn’t be. To the shamed, suicide appears to be the only recourse; it’s the way to solve the problem – them. Often they take their own lives.
We Are Messengers address this unseen malady on “Maybe It’s Ok,” a song that both grants permission and allows the shamed to divest themselves of their feelings of irrelevance.
The band got together in 2015, and is made up of Darren Mulligan (lead vocals), Heidi Mulligan (vocals), Kyle Williams (guitar), Drew Kerxton (drums), and Drake Kennedy (bass). In 2016, they released their self-titled debut album.
Not only is the melody captivating, but the thrust of the lyrics cuts home like a knife, piercing through the veil of self-loathing and illuminating the inner soul to a new way of thinking.
“If I didn’t know what it hurt like to be broken / Then how would I know what it feels like to be whole / If I didn’t know what it cuts like to be rejected / Then I wouldn’t know the joy of coming home / Maybe it’s ok if I’m not ok / Cause the one who holds the world is holding onto me / Maybe it’s alright if I’m not alright / Cause the one who holds the stars is holding my whole life.”
“Maybe It’s Ok” merges compelling sonic textures with moving lyricism. Together, they breach the camouflaged impasse of shame.
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