And part B of the answer, I've always found, it's always a more meaningful revelation and a more lasting lesson if you respect the audience's intelligence enough to allow them to go through their own exploration process and draw their own conclusions. That's one of the things I loved about Mark Heard's work. A lot of it, if you didn't listen carefully, a lot of it just came off sounding like here's a man who knows too much. This is so grim. The culture's in such a state of despair.
Human beings are in such a state of despair.
You hear that enough and it betrays the power of the truth. Guys like Mark Heard and Bill Mallonee from VOL, they have that gift. It's the kind of music where you listen to it and get kind of depressed. But then it makes you feel good to be alive because they're being honest with you and those rays of light keep dropping in. And I sense a certain sigh of relief in my audience and gratitude that I would have the faith and integrity to be honest.