Hands Held High

Hands Held High
Is there anything worth fighting for? If there is, why care, why bother? Because all we need is one voice to start a purpose. All we need is a ray of light. Letting something one disagrees with take over their lives is failure. It isn’t what being a human is about. We were meant to do, not stand back and watch. Letting their voice be heard is crucial to the making of our country – standing for what we think is right.
“Linkin Park” has always been known as a loud rock band. They’ve always let their voice be heard. Early in their career it was very subtle, but there. Now however, because of recent circumstances, they have because they dislike the way the government (among other things) is being run. Now, they lay their feelings out on the floor, for all who wish to hear and take part in.
Their hit song “Hands Held High” preaches about their feeling on the nations view on the impending foreign situation, and they hint at who it responsible for it: The Leader stuttering and mumbling for nights he refused to reply:, and it seems like they are taking a blow at George W. Bush, and they have every right to. Do I agree with bashing our leader who WE voted into office? No. However I do believe in fighting for what one believes in, which is precisely what they’re saying and doing throughout the entire song.
The song also tells the foreign view of our soldiers over there and how people coping with it – very poorly. They talk about how the war is taking over families lives. It depicts the people about how our leader is running thing. In the song they state the people are thinking “The rest of the world laughing like what’d he say?” and because of the war situation their opinions changed to “Scared and angry like what did he say?” .
They take the time to show that the world is seeing us as completely insane and it is time for us to start seeing us like that as well. They are trying to once again say to screw what is being thrown at us. It is time for change, and the only way to get it is by doing and thinking against the tide. They say it best in this line: “Jump when they say they want to see jumping. Fuck that. I want to see some fist pumping”. Linkin Park is telling their audience to get up and become the black sheep, to be different, dare to so what they think, what they know is right.
What is it about these guys though? They are after all just a few friends from high school that decided to start a band. They speak to millions of people throughout the world, and one would think because of their success, perhaps more people would do what they think is correct. The lyrics in this song though, have a presence about them and there is something that people take note of. It makes them stop and listen. It makes them stop and feel the power of what they’re saying. This song allows people to relate to something that they could be very well be feeling, especially with the situations happening throughout our country.
This country was built on what people fought for, even if it was turning their back on their superiors, but these days, it seems like we are too afraid to do it. In the song ‘Hands Held High’, there is a sense of fight in their words. A sense that something needs to be done, but we just let it be. They tell it straight up that there is work to be done, but we just sit back and we let it happen. Is this song a push to do something, or is it to mock us? Yes, it is saying to stand up and work towards what you believe is right, but still, there is that sense of humility there.
So what are the guys of “Linkin Park” really saying then? That we need to fight for what is right, or that it is just like us to sit back and let it happen? Personally, I believe they are sick of it and they want it to be resolved. They want us as a nation to do whatever we can to flip things around, to change the course of where we are headed, to make a new and powerful decision. They aren’t saying do it illegally, no, they are just saying that it needs to be done. We are the ones that can change the way the world looks at us. So instead of them laughing at our leader and instead of them being afraid of what our leader might do, we can make a change in this country by voicing our opinions, by making new choices for our country.
It is up to us to make it happen, it is up to us to make this glorified change. But it can’t be done without will power. They are asking us to empower ourselves in this song, they are asking to take a look at the war and the leadership here, they are asking us to ask ourselves if we think it is right, and if we do or don’t they are asking us to take a stand and say why. Why is it important to us? Why is it important the world sees us as contenders, not as weaklings? That is for us to figure out, that is for us to state, that is for us to change.