No, there ain't nothing wrong . . .

The sound track for my run yesterday included the Grateful Dead song, “Scarlet Begonias.” Gosh, I’ve always loved that song, but yesterday it seemed especially relevant.
They sing:

Well there ain’t nothing wrong with the way she moves
Or Scarlet Begonias or a touch of the blues
And there ain’t nothing wrong with the love that’s in her eye
I had to learn the hard way/to let her pass by . . .

You see, for me this is a song not about regret, but about freedom. Ah, she was free to look at him in whatever way she desired, and he was free to interpret her look and think it was for him. But his thought didn’t determine hers, and his desire didn’t obligate her. There was nothing wrong with his desire, but there was also nothing wrong with the look in her eye either. And there’s nothing wrong with scarlet begonias, or feeling blue: it’s all experience. Or as Dylan says, “It’s life and life only!”

“Sometimes you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”