| Breaking Benjamin – Ordinary Man Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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This song, even more so than many of their others, I find perfectly describes the daily struggles of someone with PTSD. Cast away all the enemies of yesterday to alleviate all the memories that come our way This perfectly describes how one tries to leave behind the past and the memories of the traumatic event. I'm an ordinary man like everybody else just a common counterfeit I'm an ordinary man This part says to me that the person is trying their best to fit into society and appear the same as everyone else while wrestling with the desease. Almost begging to just be an ordinary person with a boring life free of trauma. hesitate while the world is just a step away to recreate all that innocence that time can take I am wide awake To me, this describes the aversion to public places or being seen outside of ones house that can plague someone with PTSD, and of course the nights of insomnia when you are either too keyed up to relax or dreading the nightmares that may come. |
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| Breaking Benjamin – Unknown Soldier Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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When I hear this song I picture a soldier in the revolutionary war who is finding it hard to come to terms with his duty to possibly killl another human. Show me what it's like to dream in black in white is his plea for help to learn from his fellow soldiers how they separate themselves from the violence and manage to cope with the danger. In my version, the soldier dies in an explosion from artillery fire. Holding on too tight is the description of his spirit not letting go of the mortal world and the violence in which he died and he is doomed to repeat the battle that killed him. His fellow soldiers who died go on to heaven because they have come to terms with their role in the war and their own deaths. Also, the lyrics are a precise description of a soldier struggling with PTSD. Holding on too tightly to the memories, seeing all of the grey areas that confuse war, fighting forever from the battlefield to the regrets and memories of battle, hide the hate inside because our familes would be horrified if they knew how much we hated or even our own actions. I used to struggle with the thought that my friend Nick was somehow still in Iraq and that when he died in Baghdad that we had left his spirit behind. So many of Breaking Benjamin's songs seem to describe my own difficulties with PTSD. That's why I love this band so much. They've really helped me sort through a lot of my problems since I came back from Iraq. Maybe PTSD relates to Ben's struggles with recovery and alcoholism that I've read about. Does anyone know how I could write a bit of fan mail to the band? I've wanted to write this out for a long time now. |
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