In 1968, when I was 16 years old, I went to the movie theater on a date to see “The Graduate.” I was mortified by the content of the movie but fell in love with one of the songs.
Because of the movie’s theme, I thought the lyrics of “Are you going to Scarborough Fair?” actually were, “Are you going to start an affair?”
For a while, I held fast to my version because it fit with my idea of what the movie was about. Each time it came on the radio, I would sing along “Are you going to start an affair?” until someone heard me and corrected me.
How often do we hold fast to an idea that is incorrect because it fits our view of how the world works? Even when clear evidence is presented that the facts do not uphold an idea, if it makes sense to us, it is very hard to change our original notion.
The last presidential election divided our country deeply. All of us, on both political sides, were exposed to false narratives. If the story matched our perspective on a candidate, we often accepted it as truth and, despite the evidence, stuck like glue to the untrue version of the story.
Division in our country, our families and our neighborhoods will continue until we all become more critical of what we accept and believe and develop the willingness to admit that the song lyrics might not be exactly the ones we think we hear.
I’m Sarah Bingaman, and that’s my perspective.