Bruno’s Lies vs. God’s Truth

“So what we get drunk? So what we smoke weed? We’re just having fun. We don’t care who sees.. So what we go out? That’s how it’s supposed to be. Living young, and wild, and free.”

Give me a break, guys.

But surely, this song has become the newly adopted motto of my generation. It even, dare I say, puts Drake’s “YOLO” philosophy to shame.

And surprisingly, that’s more of a bad thing than it actually seems.

Because there’s just something about this whole song that drives me crazy, for the sole reason that the chorus itself is a big fat lie.

To justify your actions based on the fact that you want to have fun and you don’t care who sees what you’re doing (you know, even though generally speaking, we all hate being judged by our actions, and we all want to feel accepted in some way, and we all long for love and attention, and we don’t want mommy or daddy to ground us for breaking curfew, and oh, did I mention that we hate being judged?) is ridiculous in my opinion, for the very reasons listed above.

And even if you insist that I’m wrong on that one, tell me the last time a serial killer or a registered sex offender got away with using “but I was having fun and I don’t care that there were fifty eyewitnesses at the scene” as their defense.

And if you’re telling me that living young, and wild, and free is “the way it’s supposed to be,” then let me tell you a lil’ somethin’ bout this song you be listenin’ to..

Death is no stranger to youth, Hell is wilder than you can ever imagine, and freedom “consists not in doing what we like but in having the right to do what we ought” (Bl. Pope John Paul II).

And let’s be real. If your freedom is constituted by your desire to be self-seeking, pleasure driven animals, then by all means, enjoy your prison cell.

Maybe I’m being a little too harsh and condescending about this.

Or.. Maybe I’m not.

Call it tough love.

Because we have to be wary, more than ever, about the things we listen to on the radio and the kinds of messages that are presented to us in the media - particularly with this song.

Because indifference towards the One who sees all (and I’m not talking about Santa) ain’t good for yo’ souls, brotha’s and sista’s.

We’re just having fun. We don’t care who sees.

And it was pride and defiance towards the will of God that led to the Fall of Man and the fall of one who once bore light.

So what we go out? That’s how it’s supposed to be.

Now I understand that no one likes the feeling of being restricted by rules, or by an authority - or by the idea of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God.

I understand that we now live in a world where people would rather be gods than be God’s.. Where individuals would rather define their own worlds than come to terms with the present one.

I understand that our present society is more accepting of subjectivity than objectivity.

I understand that it seems as if there’s always been a natural impulse to want to live on the edge.

Just know that what’s beyond that edge might not be worth risking your salvation, and these so called “rules” and “authorities” (otherwise known as common sense and reason.. loljk no but really) are there for a reason.

Much in the same way that this same omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God gave us free will for a reason: that we might come to know and love Him more fully, and completely, as human beings who long to be fulfilled by something more than just drinking, smoking weed, and having “fun” in the most temporary sense of the word.

You can convince yourself all you want that you can find happiness outside of God. You can spend hours, days, months, and years seeking happiness in a world that is fleeting and a life that is slowly passing away.

Or, of course, you can take the short route and realize, like St. Augustine, that our hearts are restless until they rest in God.

And so, may the prayer of this generation, by God’s grace, be this:

May we waste not our youth. May we seek to glorify the Lord by our lives. May we nourish the desire to carry out His will each day. May we do all things for love itself.

May we turn away from the chains of apathy and pride and run towards the Truth of God’s love and humility.

Because that, Bruno Mars, is actually the way it’s supposed to be.

And you can go ahead and take that to church.