Somewhere along in the bitterness And I would have stayed up with you all night...

"How To Save A Life"

Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
And you begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
And pray to God he hears you

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you've followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he'll say he's just not the same
And you'll begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life


I love songs with meaning and this is one of them as well. Taken from the wikipedia it talks about the lead singer and his experiences as a youth worker.

Quote From Wikipedia -
"One of the kids I was paired up with was a musician. Here I was, a protected suburbanite, and he was just 17 and had all these problems. And no one could write a manual on how to save him."

Slade claims that the song is about all of the people that tried to reach out to the boy but were unsuccessful. As Slade says in an interview, his friends and family approached him by saying, "Quit [the problem behavior] or I won't talk to you again," but all he needed was some support.

The lyrics are meaningful and sometimes do make you wonder about people around you and about yourself. Can you even consider yourself a friend to those you call your friend? Do you even try to know them for who they are? For what they are? Or its just a shallow weather friendship worrying about if they are going to drive you home, or if just by being with them you can get some fame as well. And when they are in trouble do you stick by them or just let them be.

Personally I admit its very hard to be nice to all my friends. Some deserve it as they are really good friends but sometimes when your friend is in trouble and down and you yourself are also not in the bestest of circumstances, I find it hard to put away my problems to lend my friend a helping hand.

I remember this verse saying not to judge the speck of dust in your brother's eye while failing to see the plank in your own. I admit the one thing I hate the most is when people try to tell me what is right and when they tell me I am wrong when they themselves are also wrong. Is it wrong to use the same expectation on others when I am also have the same expectations on me? Personally I think its downright crap.

So my plea to firstly all the youth workers out there, or in fact anyone who works with youth. The very fact that you chose to be in this line means you must be willing to be patient and understanding and willing to put yourself in the youth's shoe. Being patient is one thing, being ignorant of your own ego is another. Yes the youth know he/she is wrong in whatever he/she did. But other than the same old do not do it again, have you ever tried to understand why he/she did that? Or are you the type who will just go you know its wrong why do you do it? There is no need to understand or feel for the youth, wrong is wrong. Hello you think this is army ah. Well if so than please get out of my uncaring non understanding face.

Let me give you a real life example : You got a guy who is in a mess cos he just broke up with his non christian gf for 2 years. Yesh before you give me the shit about the its wrong and unequal yoke, ever wonder why or try to find out if he knows its wrong? And why its wrong? And yet why he still went into the relationship?

Well ever been the loser of the group before? Ever been always the nice guy but always finish last? Ever been the one whom everyone assumes is ok but deep down is lonely and hurting? Always the one to be there for others but no one to be there for him. And when someone comes along and actually pays attention to him, do you even dare to blame him 100% and yet do not feel for him.

Now I can say that yes its his fault and he should know it. Yet my heart goes out to him. We all make mistakes, its how we pick ourselves and learn from it. And support not more putting down will help one get back on track.

Of cos I do know of some people who really go all out to help and try to understand before blasting. Sadly these type of people are getting more rare. Well while I might not be perfect, yet I am glad I chose to be corrupted in some way. Yes everyone knows me as the corrupted admin. But ever know what really went behind the scenes and why the term corrupted was used? Lolz I bet you those people who sent hate mail to the I Guides email never sat back and think through what really happened. When you have to cut from 1000 to 300, confirm will step on toes one. But yet I still gave in we had 301 I-Guides with my head on the line. Or how about the interview for those who really wanted a chance and came to find me.

In the end it takes two hands to clap. Granted the guy/girl must be willing to admit he is wrong and change, but on your side you must know that some people take longer than the rest to change. But I guess most people wun care right?

In conclusion to the first blog of the Pig Year : It is not easy to work with other people. Know what it takes and most importantly you gotta have a big heart. If you do not please do not go into that line and ruin more lives.

Ok just needed to let all those things out for some time liaos. But never had the chance to last time. But now things have changed and this song trigged it off.

Also before I go sleep, to a certain someone, please wake up and smell the coffee, the person on the other end of that dead screen is not going to be there for you forever. If people can put in effort to ask you how your day was, try to cheer and encourage you than please at least response abit. It helps to be nice.(hmmm actually this reminds me of more people but you get the idea)

Ok thats about it for my ultra long post. Nites all and Happy CNY esp to those who like me are in my 2nd cycle. Good Nights All.

cheers,
Kenneth.