Song Reflections: Dishwalla “Counting Blue Cars”

I have a soft spot for songs about God and meaning of life.  This song paints a picture of that moment in life where you stop and go “why am I here? What am I doing?”  And while our religious traditions try to give us answers, a simple twist such as calling a traditionally masculine God “her” gives the song a fresh feel.  A pure, unadulterated child-like point of view, who still hasn’t learned that we’re not really supposed to put God and “she” in the same sentence, allows us to ask honest and pure questions like “what’s out there?  What’s the point of life?”

We all would like to feel secure in our knowledge that our existence is justified.  Ideally that comes from being a child raised in abundant, unconditional love of parents, but —  for most of us, we have issues that prevent us from being comfortable with that notion.  We know what we’d like to believe, but we have doubts, reasons to believe why it may not be true.  So we keep looking out, keep looking for something beyond ourselves, something bigger and greater, to come down and validate that yes, it’s good that we exist.  It’s good that you exist, here and now.

But since we’re uncertain, we keep looking, we keep asking — and this song is about those moments of uncertainty.  It’s a feeling quite familiar to me, so when I come across a song who seems to share that sentiment, I feel very grateful.  It’s such a gift.