Yes, my outcast brethren, I’ve been a social pariah, too. And while I’m never a fan of trauma comparing or pissing matches over who’s been broken worse, what I need you to understand is THIS:
While you likely believe that the fortress you have forged out of callousness, bitterness, and unspeakable pain and sadness is keeping you safe and serving you well, let me assure you that it is NOT! Trust me when I say it, ’cause I’ve been there and done that, too! Once upon a time (and sometimes even now), I was the reigning QUEEN of “Go away and just leave me the fuck alone!”
That was then …
… THIS IS NOW …
… and so, THIS is what I say to YOU:
Yeah, I get it, you’re an outcast … always under attack … always comin’ in last … bringin’ up the past! No one owes you anything! I think you need a shotgun blast … a kick in the ass! So paranoid! WATCH YOUR BACK! Oh my, here we go! Another loose cannon gone bipolar. Slipped down, couldn’t get much lower. Quicksand’s got no sense of humor. I’m still laughin’ like hell! You think that by cryin’ to me … lookin’ so sorry … that I’m gonna believe you’ve been affected by a social disease? WELL, THEN TAKE YOUR MEDICINE! I’m so sick of this tombstone mentality. If there’s an afterlife, then it’ll set you free. But I’m not gonna part the seas … you’re a self-fulfilling prophecy. I created the sound of madness … Wrote the book on pain … somehow, I’m still here to explain that the darkest hour never comes in the night. You can sleep with a gun, but WHEN YOU GONNA WAKE UP AND FIGHT FOR YOURSELF?
Shinedown, “Sound of Madness”
Happy Birthday to Shinedown’s The Sound of Madness! May its title track live on in infamy as the hard-to-swallow truth pill and fight song for all the ones who got left behind but then found their will to SHINE DOWN!
