#in 2011 i was a lost queer teen that could have VERY easily been one of the subjects of this track. god knows i'd had multiple attempts by

[batsinurbelfrey]

#its been over a decade since this song came out and it still makes me fucking ugly cry every time i hear it #in 2011 i was a lost queer teen that could have VERY easily been one of the subjects of this track. god knows i'd had multiple attempts by #that point #i was in a terrible environment and lived under a roof that would have sooner seen me suffer and fade out than just accept who i was #i VIVIDLY remember this track dropping. i remember being inconsolable. but in a good way. feeling SEEN feeling HEARD. feeling valued and #cared about. even if it was just as a statistic. #hearing a group so established basically saying with no room for doubt or confusion 'whats happening to you is WRONG. you deserve better' #'you deserve to be alive and happy' #Rise Against was the first band i ever snuck out to see live. the start of a habit that carried through my late teens #but they were the FIRST #because i needed.....to go to this tour. i needed to hear it. #And a decade later and through so much concussion induced memory loss i STILL remember it VIVIDLY IN 4K DETAIL #standing there in the venue crying my GODDAMN eyes out but in the most positively cathartic way #imagine being a child raised in the catholic school system with bigoted home relations #being told you are sick and wrong and broken and damaged #and need Fixing or you will burn for eternity #and then one night. you sneak out and hear #10000 people yelling this song #about how what you are experiencing is wrong and how you are loved and just need to hold on a little longer #and to realize #that the echo chamber you are trapped in is NOT the world at large #fuckin #thats such a core moment of my life i owe so much to this fucking band and this fucking song #anyway. happy pride to young and old. you are loved and you are valid. #music posting