Virus

Okay, you're probably wondering why I've named this post "Virus".  It's because of a song.  There are probably like 20 different songs by different artists by the title of "Virus", but the one I'm talking about is by Iron Maiden.  At this, you may think, "Boring.  He's always talking about Iron Maiden."  Just read on for once.

For this song, you have to listen to the lyrics.  Almost every band or musician out there has a song or more about social justice or something like that.  "Virus" isn't really about any particular social justices.  It's just about how the world is socially messed up in general.  It talks about the "Virus", which is "not state of the art, but a serious state of the mind" and "a menace to society/a social disease" and "watching beginnings of social decay" and "rape of the mind" and "the rats in the cellar, you know who you are".  That's a lot of things to talk about in one song; but then again, it is a 6 minute song, and you can fit a lot of things into 6 minutes.  

The thing that really made me think in this song was "watching beginnings of social decay".  Now, hearing what the song is truly about, you may not even think it has anything to do with social justice.  But look deeper.  Social decay?  That would be all of the problems the world is suffering from.  The rats in the cellar?  That would be all the people or things causing the problems.  And the whole theory of a "Virus" in general?  That would be what has taken over us all.  What we have become.  What we are.  And like all viruses, it's something we have to find a cure to.  How do we cure something as big as what we have created?  How can we treat a virus this big?  

As I listened to this song for the first time, I didn't think about the lyrics too much.  i thought about the main riffs, the solos, the vocals, and everything else.  Just like reading a book for the first time, I didn't try to dig deeper.  I just wanted to hear the music.  

But then, there's always got to be another time when I listen to the song.  And when I listened to it for the second time...well, to be honest, I still wasn't digging deeper.  It wasn't till many times after that I thought: you know, this song has a really deep meaning.  

And it does.  This song really does have a deeper meaning.  It talks about the world as it really is.  About us, humans, as we really are.  About everything as it really is.  What is the world, really?  What are we, really?  And don't just come up with quick answers, like: "The world is where we live" or, "we are humans".  So, now, really, REALLY, REALLY think.  What is everything, really?