Sickness

Recently, a friend of mine introduced me to a band entitled "Disturbed". I am hooked. It is strange, however, that I could love heavy metal so much. I've always tried to be a bright, happy person. I love ridiculously bright colors, and I love to laugh and smile. Seems pretty girly and sunshine-y to me. But somehow, whenever I hear this music, I just feel happier inside. When I'm down, or angry, somehow this furious, dismal music cheers me up. Along with my obsession with Disturbed came Avenged Sevenfold, Three Days Grace, and Breaking Benjamin. But this all started with one song. "Down with the Sickness". Here's a piece, but really you have to listen to the song to even begin to understand how the song really goes.

Looking at my own reflection
When suddenly it changes
Violently it changes (oh no)
There is no turning back now
You've woken up the demon in me

I can see inside you, the sickness is rising
Don't try to deny what you feel
It seems that all that was good has died
And is decaying in me

And when I dream. . .

Get up, come on get down with the sickness
Get up, come on get down with the sickness
Get up, come on get down with the sickness
Open up your hate, and let it flow into me
Get up, come on get down with the sickness
You mother get up come on get down with the sickness
You f***** get up come on get down with the sickness
Madness has now come over me

There is a section of the song that features a boy being beaten by his mother. Yeah, I know, horrible. ( I would post it, but the language gets pretty bad. Look it up, if you'd like). Now while this is a very touchy subject to talk about, this song features it
so. . . honestly.

"Down with the Sickness" may be heavy metal, and I'm lead to believe that many are intimidated by the seemingly evil, heartless singers, but in the lyrics, you can feel the emotion, and the terror. Especially during the beating. At first, the singer is apologetic and terrified, but as his mother continues to hurt him, he becomes self defensive, and eventually violently angry. What I'm wondering is, can you blame him?

Many blame violence on gory or vivid video games, but I am lead to believe that much of the violence seen in teenagers and young adults today is caused by repressed fear, hatred, and even painful memories. Perhaps Nintendo and Xbox are being blamed for the insensitivity of parents. And perhaps this repressed terror goes back further. Maybe parents abuse their children because they were abused themselves as children.

I believe that if the nation as a whole became fully dedicated to ending abuse parent-child relationships, we could, by extent, end ALL abusive relationships as well as teenage violence. Just something to think about. . .