Day 2: So Why Can't You See?

The song is audio wallpaper in public places right now, so I was familiar with the tune a few months before I learned it was by a hugely popular and very young singer-songwriter named Taylor Swift.

I did not pay attention to the lyrics much at first, but after enjoying Emma so much and deciding on my Lenten writing topic, I've realized that the song is relevant to my theme: Delayed Recognition.

I can recount my grade school years by either the teacher I had that year or the boy I had a crush on that year. It was always an unrequited crush and it always faded after a few months. But part of the experience that made even unrequited crushes worth having was the hope and possibility that is so well described in the song "You Belong With Me":

Dreaming bout the day when you wake up and find
That what you're lookin for has been here the whole time

If you could see that I'm the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me
You belong with me.

Yes the girl you are interested in now is not me, and that is a reality that I have to accept, but something will change. Not you, not her, not even me. What will change is your perception. You will recognize what you are blind to, and everything will be all right then.

The story that is told before recognition comes, before the boy sees that his oldest back-door friend is the love he has been looking for, that story is a kind that mixes loss and expectation in a unique way. There is misery, but hope and possibility help her bear it. The only thing missing is the ability "to recognize," and the song expects that if she'll just wait it out, time will pass and certain events will transpire to bring that recognition and relief around.

My all-time favorite stories, when I put them on a list together and compare them, all seem have this in common: "delay of recognition." Sometimes this delay is the result of a disguise or veil that gets removed later in the story. Other times the delay is caused by a character trait or belief system that causes a blindness which only time and the unfolding of action can correct. During the period before recognition, the story seems headed toward tragedy, and loss and regret are threatening to take over. But then without anything really changing except for a sudden recognition, and with impeccable timing that could best be described as "comedic," things turn out better than anyone could have imagined.

I think "You Belong With Me" is so hugely popular not just because there are a lot of American schoolgirls who form a crush and nurture the fantasy of requited love, but because we all, old and young, boys and girls, beloved and lonely, share the song's longing for a day when misery and loss and regret suddenly get eclipsed by the joy of a happy ending.