You guys have picked at what I think it means but its not really complete. This song has special significance, coming from a family in which my father was abusive. "Step on a kid, he'll grow up hating you" is significant in that my father was abusive when we were children. We grew up and he tried vainly to repair the bonds he had broken. We, my siblings and I, grew up hating him and because of it he his relationships with us is
now twisted. My father "learned in time that he must be cruel" to get what he wanted from us, though it put "poison in everything" he said. Nothing he has ever said has meant anything because of who he once was. "Where did you learn, its either him or you?" He used physical abuse to get what he wanted, pitting my siblings against him. This was a quality my mother never saw in him before marrying him, he was "almost kind, he was almost true" I see this song through the eyes of my brother, and every time I listen to it I remember him being thrown down a flight of stairs by my father. "I'll have to wait to get the best of you." We looked on in spite, waiting till the chance to strike back. This song describes child abuse and the feeling that arise from it perfectly.
You guys have picked at what I think it means but its not really complete. This song has special significance, coming from a family in which my father was abusive. "Step on a kid, he'll grow up hating you" is significant in that my father was abusive when we were children. We grew up and he tried vainly to repair the bonds he had broken. We, my siblings and I, grew up hating him and because of it he his relationships with us is now twisted. My father "learned in time that he must be cruel" to get what he wanted from us, though it put "poison in everything" he said. Nothing he has ever said has meant anything because of who he once was. "Where did you learn, its either him or you?" He used physical abuse to get what he wanted, pitting my siblings against him. This was a quality my mother never saw in him before marrying him, he was "almost kind, he was almost true" I see this song through the eyes of my brother, and every time I listen to it I remember him being thrown down a flight of stairs by my father. "I'll have to wait to get the best of you." We looked on in spite, waiting till the chance to strike back. This song describes child abuse and the feeling that arise from it perfectly.