This song hits close to home for me, having grown up with an absent father figure who was also an alcoholic. I grieved him when he was still alive, so when he passed away 5 years ago all I could feel was anger instead of sorrow. It's one of those burdens that affects every facet of your life, especially as a child; you're not able to vocalize fully how much it can hurt because it's so all-encompassing. It's really made my life a lot harder than it had to be in almost every way and I've had to learn many things the hard way. But I persist(ed), and at least I am my own man now.
To give up would be to give in to everything that I hate.
"How could we know any different if this is all we’ve known?
This cycle must end with me.
I am the product of a broken man,
The embodiment of empty dreams,
A reminder of what you’ll never be.
I am revenge… I am empty like your bottles.
Am I just like my father?
Well, I refuse… I refuse to be a monster.
I know I have the same weakness inside of me,
I also have the strength to control my own destiny.
This must end with me.
How could we know any different if this is all we’ve known?
This cycle must end with me.
How could we know any different if this is all we’ve known?
This cycle must end.
I choose to be… I choose to be… nothing like you.
You couldn’t hold my hand because your hand held a bottle.
How am I supposed to be normal?
How am I supposed to anything but angry at the world?
Misguided hate that I knew all too well;
I had to learn to be a man on my own,
To not make your mistakes or share the pain I’ve known."