From The Bangles’ Eternal Flame to The Script’s Nothing
Back in 1990, I first heard the song “Eternal Flame” by The Bangles. I instantly felt the song. I listened to it again and again on local radio and soon became the very first song that I memorized. I was four then.
I had always believed that love and compassion is for everyone to give and receive. That’s the main premise of the song Eternal Flame. You reach out to someone, then both of you touch hands. Finally, like a dream, everything turns out well, a happy ever after feel-good story. Yes, it happens. Apparently, for the rest of us rejected and thrown, it doesn’t.
As years go by, that illusion of a happy ever after story faded from my memory. From “Eternal Flame” to Vertical Horizon’s “You’re a God” to Matchbox Twenty’s “If You’re Gone” to Avril Lavigne’s “When You’re Gone” before ending up with The Script’s “Nothing”, a thousand songs have described my life. In fact, my life has been so diverse that at one point I even related to Britney Spears’ “Everytime”. Yes, my life is as broken as my heart. I blame it on the fact that I hoped too much and done so little. I cursed myself for putting myself out there so hard only to be thrown right back in to my reclusion.
I have always said that Alicia Keys’ “Karma” has actually gone full circle on me. I gave some, and got some. I felt pain, I hurt some. I have paid my dues, I received my rewards. Yet, nothing seems to really work for me. I always felt that same same lonely feeling that Secondhand Serenade’s “Vulnerable” describes.
It’s a bit delusional to say that everything will go well. Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone” speaks of that testament of people needing to go to avoid more hurts and heartbreaks. It’s also a bit pessimistic to claim that hope’s stream has dried out. Bruno Mars’ “Today My Life Begins” spoke the truth about that. Still, it’s a mistake to actually live a dream when reality will remain an object of the hoping and longing mind. My innocence told me that love, hope, and compassion are eternal flames. Unfortunately, my so-called maturity doused the flames with the reality that nothing good lasts and that the sting of bad memories hold true forever.
