Hands Held High

Uddeshya India
Jul 21, 2017 · 3 min read

When I woke up today morning to the sad news of Chester Bennington’s passing away, a flood of memories from my teenage came gushing with a bitter taste in my mouth. And a thought came to my mind, that another of my heroes lost a battle that was internal rather than with outside evil. We never know what really goes on inside the life of artists like Chester, and bands like Linkin Park. All we know is that their inspiration and art gives us hope and a connection to all we hold dear and all we have lost.

When I read multiple articles on this news and dived into the known history of the life of Linkin Park lead vocalist Chester Bennington, I realized that he has gone through so much turmoil in his life. At a very early age he had been a victim of Child Sexual Abuse. After his parents got divorced, he started abusing various drugs like Marijuana, Cocaine, Opium etc. and was also addicted to alcohol. He gradually over came his addictions and went on to denounce drug use in interviews. He later during a band tour relapsed on alcohol before going clean again. His life, just like many others had been difficult, and he turned to drawing pictures and writing poetry for comfort. He was also bullied during high school. It is miraculous and resonant that someone with a violent history of mental and physical abuse has given us such beautiful music.

The underlining point in the case of is suicide is that he was and had been battling depression for a really long time. And the fact that the death of his close friend by suicide might have been a trigger for him is all the more morose. Depression, anxiety and suicide are close relatives, and everyone is susceptible to these problems. What we need is acceptance, empathy and welfare for mental illnesses. Cases like these are saddening but bring out the importance of Mental Health and how much awareness is required around this issue.

So how can we contribute? Easy. The first step comes with us accepting that mental illnesses are real psychological problems which require care and medicine just like any physical ailment. The second step would be raising awareness about Mental health and learning to take care of ourselves and those close to us. And finally empowering us and others to help our society come out of these issues and get rid of all the taboo surrounding mental illnesses.

Let’s conclude with lyrics from one of my favorite lyrics from Linkin Park, the song is called Leave out all the rest, and I quote

“I dreamed I was missing,

You were so scared,

But no one would listen,

Cause no one else cared,

After my dreaming,

I woke with this fear,

What am I leaving,

When I’m done here?”

)

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Empowering Youth. Fueling Change.

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