Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGbTn4s_Ib8
Lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-riddle-lyrics-five-for-fighting.html
John Ondrasik, the man behind the band Five for Fighting, is a musical genius. All of his songs have the same staggering impact- the lyrics provoke thought while the piano keeps you grounded to the song and enriches your feelings. The Riddle is a huge hit, and with good reason.
Rather than 100 years, which sweetly laments good times in your life that have passed, the Riddle encourages you to recognize the great moments while you're there, and to realize the impact the moments will have on you later and to truly enjoy everything, moment. by. moment. He enforces the idea that you can't just live in your own little shell and hope the world treats you well in the end. The verse where he is talking to his son really struck me:
"Picked up my kid from school today
Did you learn anything? Cuz in the world today
You can't live in a castle far away
Now talk to me, come talk to me"
He's telling us that we have to put ourselves out there. It's impossible to ignore the people around us and the situations all over the world, because some aspect of it touches us everyday, whether it be in small doses in our suburbs or if we're right in the middle of a conflict. He wants his kid to realise there's always more that yourself.
His kid responds with incredible wisdom- telling his dad that he realizes how small people are individually, and we can take something from that. As a person we may just be one more living, breathing organism on the Earth, but we can change that depending on our choices and how we live our lives. The way we relate and interact with other people is what makes our life matter, and it's strange to think that everything we do is shaping others. His kid finishes his speech by asking his dad to play a game with him, and his dad does. The power of his dad spending that time to play with his kid is incredible when you think of how it affects their relationship.
That's an interesting thought... to what extent are we defined by others' actions? If everything other people do around me affects me, am I defined more by them or my own choices? Do our everyday choices affect others more than myself? To keep that in mind makes it harder to dismiss our actions as meaningless, anything from how we walk into school every morning to if I say hi to that 'loner' in my math class.
Is the reason for the world to make it the best for others? Is it to put others before myself, and to get every ounce of joy I can out of it? In the beginning of the song, a wise old man advises the singer to "catch a Dylan song or some eclipse of the moon". If we enjoy every moment fully as it comes, we will appreciate and enjoy the people we experience life with. Enjoy how everyone is connected. The question of the riddle is how we can fully immerse ourselves in living. And I can only learn that by getting out there and finding out for myself.
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Thank you. You helped me figure out the riddle. I could never really understand this song, though I've always considered it beautiful. The lyrics had some hidden meaning for me that I couldn't reveal. Sometimes people interpret things way too far, but this is completely plausible in my mind. I've recently learned this: live in the moment. In Kris Allen's new single, "Live Like We're Dying", the catch phrase of the song is exactly it's title. The little things in life are sometimes the most important. We must find incentive to live, because we only get to live once. How do we fully immerse ourselves in living? We should just do it.
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