Within this song, one can feel the narrator speaking of his friend who committed suicide, but was depressed beforehand in the first verse. The opening lines "You must have been in a Place so dark You couldn't feel the light Reachin' for you through That stormy cloud" states the depression, and the narrator tried to reach through the metaphorical cloud within the character's head. The character must have been in a place so dark, that there was no hope for the sun to shine through, or so he thought. Within the same first verse, the narrator describes the attention that the character got, but not of the kind anyone would want. "Now here we are Gathered in our little hometown This can't be the way You meant to draw a crowd" In the chorus: Oh why, that's what I keep asking Was there anything I could've Said or done Oh, I had no clue you were Masking A troubled soul, God only knows What went wrong and why You would leave the stage In the middle of a song The narrator continues to ask why? He had no clue of what his friend truly held deep down in his soul, and what he was hiding from everyone. The song continues on with different verses continuing to describe how the narrator still sees his friend as: the 17 year old who shined in anything he did, sports, singing on stage, and how the time passes by and yet he still keeps his friend that same 17 year old kid in high school sports, and on the stage. While the narrator says he has no room to judge, he does have one question left. "Who told you life wasn't worth the fight?" The narrator says that whoever told him that, was wrong, that they lied to him. "Because it's not like you to walk away in the middle of a song." The whole story of the song goes from the narrator not knowing what was going on with his friend, while his friend hid everything dark from him. The friend is known to be this all-star athlete, amazing singer, and one who would not leave in the middle of a song. Metaphor for life, that he wouldn't give up without a fight: that he wouldn't commit suicide. However, in life, even if you do know someone, that doesn't mean they are not prone to do these heinous crimes of life. In this song, the narrator seems to blame his friend's death on the one who lied to his friend. True, it is partly that person's fault, but it's also the one who committed the act. I found this song while on Pandora.com, and it's such a sad song. We all have friends who go into dark places, and think they have nothing left to live for. They do, they have everything to live for. There is a specific reason for each and every person. To take your own life because you can't handle something, that's a cop out, but it's also a self-esteem issue. Some feel as though no one loves them, and no one will miss them, and that they have nothing left to do in this life. Moral of the story: if you have friends who seem like they are in the dark, with no hope of coming out, spread some sunshine in their life. Sometimes all one needs is a genuine, caring smile that will lift them up and remind them that they are worth something, to someone. We all need someone to love, and love us back. Be that person for someone today. There are stories that have gone around the world through e-mail about how there is a boy who gets picked on, his family doesn't seem to love him, and he goes home one afternoon planning to kill himself. With one act of kindness from someone who genuinely cares, his whole life changes, he realizes that life is still worth living, and he doesn't commit suicide. If you think that just one act, one random act of kindness doesn't change a person, you are wrong, it does change a person. It may not be a big change, but big enough to change the mind set of wanting to do something drastic like that. Be someone's sunshine today.
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