Thursday: Swan Song

There is an old myth about a special kind of swan that, during its lifetime, never makes a single sound.  But, just before the moment of its death, this mute swan sings a beautiful song.  Of course, the myth is a load of crap.  The mute swan does make a sound during its lifetime.  It hisses.  And it does not sing before it dies.

But we still call it a Swan Song, that one act of valor or magnificence before the end.  Swan Song, Last Stand, Final Moments, all idiomic names for the same thing.  That final act, just before the end, when someone shows that they’re not completely done with this life.

We all seem to be obsessed with it.

So, what is it about this final moment that fascinates us?  It’s everywhere; in every TV show and movie, in every book and play, there’s always a final stand where someone stands up and charges head-on into the enemy’s mouth, usually delivering some of them to their ends as well.  But why is it everywhere?

Is it the idea of standing up for what we believe in?  Is that it?  Is it the idea that, no matter what the enemy does, that they can never steal our souls?  Is that swan song a way of showing them that they haven’t won, and that they never will?

Is it the idea of taking up arms against a sea of troubles, the adrenaline rush of blasting full-on into enemy lines while knowing that there’s no chance at all that we’ll win?  Is it that inherently human desire to go out with more than a whimper, to be remembered?

Perhaps sometimes it is a selfless act of honor, when someone knows that their end is set in stone, but the finales of those around them are not.  Think about the passengers of Flight 93, almost eleven years ago.  Was that a swan song?  I think it was.

Or maybe it’s the idea of redemption.  The idea that, no matter what awful things we’ve done in our lives, we can make up for them in that one moment of valor.  Redemption.  The word itself feels good to say.  It’s something I think everyone yearns for in their own way, no matter how few or how many sins they’ve committed in their lifetime.  Who cares if there’s a god, an afterlife, a heaven or hell?  We just want that final moment to be ours, and to feel good about ourselves inside it.

SONG OF THE DAY: IN THE END

I think I picked this song today because, if you just take the surface value it’s wrong.  It does matter what we do In the End.  Perhaps that’s what matters most of all.  And I think, if you listen to it as many times as I do, this song might just start to say that.

I hope I’ve given you something to think about tonight.  Thanks for reading my one hundredth post.  It’s been fun, and I hope you’re still here when I hit two hundred.  Goodnight.