As you read, take notes in the margins so that you can more easily comprehend, interpret, and learn from this essay.

HIDDEN PROVERBS

     "I kept the right ones out. And let the wrong ones in. Had an angel of mercy to see me through all my sins. There were times in my life when I was goin' insane. Tryin' to walk through the pain" .... As Steven Tyler begins Aerosmith's "Amazing", I begin a trip down memory lane. It's the summer of '94, August 5th to be exact. I'm driving home in tears after the fight that ended the best friendship of my like. As my trip progresses through the end of that summer and the following fall, I relive all of the experiences and emotions of that time. Then the song fades away and I return from those unwanted memories.

     This song didn't always affect me in this way. I had always liked it, but had never listened intently enough to find any real meaning in it. At least no anything past "Steven Tyler wrote this about his battle with drugs, right?" In fact, it wasn't until last spring that I really thought about it at all. One day it changed for me though. It changed so much that it is difficult for me to listen to it without thinking about the past.

     To better explain, I need to give a little bit of background. Last year my best friend, Mike, and I ended our friendship. After this, he deteriorated. He got in with a really bad crowd and became a heavy partier. I won't give all of the details but a few months went by and he somehow got himself straightened out again and we became friends once more. This is when the song changed for me.

     One day Mike and I were listening to CD's and "Amazing" began to play. About half way through the song he looked at me and said "Ya know, this is my theme song". I didn't really understand and he explained to me that it seemed the song had been written for him about the time that he had partied every night. Then he went through the song and showed me how it struck parallels in his life.

     It would be too lengthy to show every part of the song that worked in Mikes life, so I will just give some brief examples. For him, the "right ones" in the first phrase of "Amazing" had been myself and the other friends he had lost to partying and the "wrong ones" had been the people who had gotten him into it. He said that he kept trying to get through his own "pain", the loss of myself and his other friends, and that he flet he had lost the "grip" on his life, what was really important. He had felt that he had been living a "lie" because he projected an image of someone having the time of his life on the outside, but on the inside  he was miserable. Then he frightened me when he told me that he too had been "wishin' that he would die" and had almost attempted suicide.

     The song's chorus states, "in the blink of an eye you finally see the light". Mike explained that in the moment before he jumped off of a cliff this happened to him. Almost instantly, everything became clear to him, he know what he needed to do to get straight and how to do it.

     This experience completely changed the way that I view this song. Before, I would sing along with it, but had never searched for any meaning in it. Especially not one so close to myself. Because of my own experience, it has changed and become something very personal for me.

     I find it strange that this experience not only changed the way the song is viewed, but it also changed my life. I became a different person. Before this experience I was more dependent on other people (especially my very close friends) and I put other peoples wants and needs before my own. All of that changed when our friendship ended. I took a while for these changes to occur, but eventually I was able to look back and see how one sided and pathetic our friendship had become. I could see how I had been taken advantage of. I realized that I had been betrayed by the person who meant the world to me. That is when I decided, that would never happen to me again. I learned how to be stronger and more independent, to say how I really felt when I was asked, and to put my own needs first once in a while.

     I'll admit that during this experience, I became very bitter. I was angry with Mike for what he had done to me and for what he was doing to himself. I hated his new found "friends" and lifestyle. If I look hard enough, I find what bothered me more than anything else was that he didn't want me in his life anymore.

     It wasn't until much later than I came to the realization that this horrible experience had been necessary. Our friendship would have ended regardless if it had remained on that route. I would also be a much weaker person. As for Mike, he needed to take that path for a while. Even though he had everyone telling him that it was a bad idea, he needed to find out for himself. Now that this experience is in the past, I am actually glad that it occurred. We both came out better people for it. I became stronger. Mike finally realized the value of his true friends and became much more considerate of other peoples wants and needs. Our friendship has become a true friendship because of this. It's two sided and we both work at it now.

     To get back to "Amazing". The rest of the song is mostly what I call modern proverbs. They are things that we hear over and over in life. Usually from someone trying to comfort, scold, or teach us a lesson. Proverbs are essentially lessons themselves. For example, if you hear "you have to learn to crawl before you learn to walk" it is commonly when you have attempted to do more than you are ready for and fail at all or part of the task. The lesson is that you need to take things one step at a time. Proverbs aren't as straightforward as many lessons we are given. This is why they are so often overlooked.

      I feel that this whole song is a proverb. It is full of phrases to ponder such as "how high can you fly with broken wings" and "life's a journey not a destination". If you really listen, they each tell a story and teach a lesson. Exactly what these are depends on the people listening. This song was giving us a message the entire time. We just never heard it...or at least we didn't listen. However, Mike found the hidden proverb after he had taken the wrong path. The song talked about Steven Tyler and what happened to his life when he let himself become involved with drugs and alcohol. It was a message to help people with the same problem or to prevent people from facing the same problem. Mike was the one that finally heard that message and applied it to himself and his life.

     I believe that Mike needed this experience. As the song says...he needed to learn to crawl before he learned to walk. I guess in a way we both did. He needed to satisfy his craving for partying and learn that is wasn't right for him. Sure h e really messed up. But that's what it's all about. He attempted more than he could handle. He tried to jump straight into walking and learned that crawling is a very important step.

     I think that these proverbs teach us a good lesson and when we heed them, they save us a lot of heartache and worry. After all, they tell the experiences of someone who's already been down the road we're traveling. However, I feel that sometimes it is necessary for us to experience life for ourselves. We need to make our own mistakes and learn the lessons the hard way.