I like the message of this music video of Katy Perry singing "Firework." Kind of.

Did the director really mean to have fireworks shoot out of her chest? Hmmm. Interesting.

The message of this song, as I understand it, is this: "You're a special person that has been created to be different, so don't conform. Let your light of individuality shine. If you do that, then fireworks will shoot out of your chest (or the body part of your choice), like Katy."

Well, something like that, anyway...

I actually think that's true. Kind of. I believe that each person is created with inherent worth and for a purpose. And when you discover that purpose, your life begins to make more sense.

But there's a part of the song that I don't agree with. It's the part that allows this responsibility of self-actualization to rest solely on the individual. It's an idea that has grown pretty popular in our culture -- that you are in charge of your destiny, the captain of your own ship, as it were. As Katy sings:
That bothers me -- this idea that if you like yourself enough, then you can accomplish anything you want.

And that may actually be true.

But what isn't true is that fireworks will shoot out of your chest. That is, this feeling of disconnectedness from others -- the alienation of being different, feeling awkward, left out and worthless -- isn't guaranteed to go away.

Because our self-actualization (i.e. becoming who we were meant to be) is tied to more than our own wish-fulfillment and how much we like ourselves.

I took a maturity test the other night and was surprised to find out that the belief that a person needs love in order to find fulfillment is juvenile. Obviously, the test administrator and I have different definitions of love. They must have meant "love" in the relational sense, whereas I meant it in the universal sense.

You see, I think that love is exactly what we need. I believe that this was why we were created in the first place -- to be loved, to know and be known by the only who can completely fulfill us. I mean God, of course.

When we acknowledge that truth, fully submitting to it, then, and only then, will fireworks shoot out of our chests.

(I think you get what I mean by now.)