Decadence Isn't Easy, Is It?

One of my favorite songs is called Decadence by Disturbed. One day, instead of just listening to the sound of the song, I was trying to pay attention to the lyrics and a part that made me stop and think was, “Decadence isn’t easy, is it?” That got me thinking; is decadence really easy or is it not? I saw how it could go both ways. I looked up interpretations of the song online and I wanted to find the explanation of the song from Disturbed since it would be accurate, but all I found was what other people thought it meant. I texted Cha-Cha (this number you can text and they will answer pretty much any question) about what the song is talking about and they said, “It’s all about living the high life just to fill a hole in your life…when all it does is worsen your situation.” That explanation fit the lyrics of the song, but I was still thinking about that one part. So, forgetting that it was from a song, I decided just to focus on that one sentence and figure out if decadence is easy or difficult.

According to my little blue Webster’s New Pocket Dictionary here, the definition of decadence is, “a declining, as in morals or art.” Decadence could be talking about a person or even a country as a whole. Many people would say America as a nation is becoming increasingly decadent, that we’ve forgotten the morals that our country was built upon and that we are headed for trouble. It seems each decade gets more and more liberal and that we are digging ourselves into a hole we can’t get out of. In a way, you could say that decadence is easy. On a small scale, how easy is it to fall into a bad habit like being lazy or apathetic about what is important? It’s easy to be lazy and not want to work hard; sitting around doing nothing and sleeping is much more fun than doing work. A major factor leading to decadence is peer pressure. It is often very easy to give in to peer pressure because you don’t want to let your friends down or have them think you are a wuss or whatever. Not to mention, if everyone else’s friends are like mine, then they can be very persuasive. One incident of giving in to peer pressure can become a slippery slope and lead to something regrettable. In most cases, submitting to negative peer pressure means going against morals that the person has. They may compromise or even completely give in, but either way those morals are pushed aside for something that seems like more fun at the time. It may not be something big at first, but one small step can lead to them being in a position that they didn’t even think about being in. It seems like we as a country have our priorities completely messed up. Hollywood, in particular, says that in order to be a happy, successful person you must look a certain way, have a high paying job, and own certain clothes or cars. They say that you should go out and have fun and live life with no regrets. Many people listen and go out and do whatever makes them happy, not necessarily what they know is right. Songs and movies are becoming increasingly filled with negative lyrics and have a bigger influence on people’s thoughts and actions than they realize. It is easy to be decadent; it is often fun which is why we do the things we do when we know we shouldn’t. In some definitions of decadence, the word, “decay,” is used instead of “decline.” Typically, when something is decaying it is a slow process and decadence is no different. That’s why it’s so dangeous; we usually don’t see it coming.

The song says, “Decadence isn’t easy, is it?” It’s not. It starts off easy but when something is started, it usually has to be finished. There aren’t hugs and standing ovations and big smiles at the end either. What is at the end is often regret, stress, and sadness. When we do something wrong, we don’t always think about the consequences that will follow, but when they hit, they r usually felt pretty strongly. One reason that part of the song stuck out so boldly to me is because I can relate so well. For the first 16 or so years of my life everybody told me I was a perfect little church kid who never did anything wrong. The name that really got to me was when they said I was a goody-goody. I wasn’t, but that was what people thought of me. I know I shouldn’t have let what other people thought get to me but it did. I hated being called that and it just made me want to prove people wrong. That combined with peer pressure and not keeping my priorities straight turned me from being an innocent high schooler into a rebellious one. In about a year, I had become completely the opposite of who I was before, someone I never would have seen myself becoming. What is so crazy to me is how fast I became a different person. However, it wasn’t sudden; it was one action that lead to another and got me deeper and deeper in and you know what? I enjoyed it. I got into so many things I knew I shouldn’t get myself into but I did them anyway because they were fun and it felt good not being a good kid for once. They started off so small and insignificant (or so I thought) and snowballed into something much bigger. It wasn’t until right before I came to Tech that I started to get sick of it all. I was tired of the person I became; it wasn’t me. The things that I counted on to make me happy and satisfy me weren’t doing the job anymore. I felt miserable, like my life had no meaning or significance. I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere in life, like I was doing nothing to make myself a better person and be the person I was meant to be. There are so many things that I have done that I would give anything to take back because I am still feeling the consequences for what I did and will always feel them. I’m trying to turn my life around and I have come a long way in doing that, but I still have a long way to go. It sucks because I know that not all of it I can change. All I can do is learn from it and become a better person because of it. Even now that I have come so far in getting my life back on track, I still feel flashes of my decadent self flare up and I have to fight them off because I don’t want to fall back into being the person I was before. Decadence isn’t easy. It may start off that way but, in the end, it hurts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcP5yezHarw (the song if anybody wants to listen to it)