On a cloudy Tuesday afternoon,

A teenage boy comes back home

From school with his homework.

He wonders what he should finish first:

English or History.

 

He wants to receive outstanding grades in all of his classes,

Enroll in a good college or university,

Enroll in the Navy, and

Simply have a successful, happy life.

 

He wants to avoid failure.

 

His mind jumbles up,

And he stresses out.

But he takes out his iPod Touch, and

Docks it on the Bose Speaker in his room.

 

Many songs play:

The Only Exception by Paramore,

For Those Who Wait by Fireflight,

We Are One And All by Shihoko Hirata, and

Moving Forward by Hoobastank.

 

These calm him down

As he works on his homework.

 

However,

He never paid much attention to

The lyrics,

The meaning,

The message, and

The moral of the songs.

 

He only listened to the songs for entertainment.

 

Time passes.

 

Life has been growing stressful for him.

His brothers are not doing well in academics, and

His parents always yell at them for failing school.

Day after day, the anger in his family

Gradually worsens...as if love

disappears from his family.

 

He feels like

He is the only one

Doing the right thing

In his family.

 

He has been working his hardest in all his classes unlike his brothers.

He has applied to multiple AP classes unlike his brothers.

He has been getting at least a 3.8 GPA unlike his brothers.

 

He planned for his future unlike them.

 

He wanted to move out

Of the house as soon as possible

To leave this miserable place.

 

But what can a teenage boy do?

He has to wait.

 

And bear his family's problems.

 

He feels alone and secluded.

He cries from the unbearable stress.

He wants it to stop.

 

Helpless,

He sits alone in his room

While his parents

Yell at his brothers.

Trying to calm down,

He takes out his iPod Touch

for music.

 

He plays the same songs:

The Only Exception by Paramore,

For Those Who Wait by Fireflight,

We Are One And All by a Shihoko Hirata, and

Moving Forward by Hoobastank.

 

Out of distress,

The boy listened to the lyrics

To keep his mind off

Of his distressed family.

 

As he listens, he realizes

That the songs connect to him.

Every single word from the songs

Relate to his life:

Finding that one person to look up to,

Fighting to believe,

The power of friendship and love,

 

And the triumph of keeping one's head up.

 

The songs

Encourage him

To move on with his life—

Never to give up.

 

The songs saved him;

They made him feel like he is

Not the only one devastated from family problems,

Not the only one feeling secluded,

Not the only one suffering in this world.

 

His soul brightens,

And ever since,

He always listens

For the lyrics of every song

To grow a connection with them.

 

He keeps his head up.

He won't let his

family problems ruin his life.

 

He has his connection to music

And his determination for success.

 

He won't become like his brothers;

He will not be a failure to himself.