Be kind, show empathy

City Times online reader Baibhav Chatterjee on the impact of Chester Bennington's death and why depression should be taken very seriously

It all began when I heard the devastating news of Chester's passing away by suicide (hanging himself) on Thursday, July 20. Frankly, I wasn't a great Linkin Park fan but the impact Meteor and Hybrid Theory had in my life is unparalleled. It wasn't the band's music that stood out so much as Chester's incredible voice, which was his way of crying for help and reaching out to us, the fans. As I type this, a big chunk of my childhood is pulled right out of my heart because not many things in life affect me and his lyrics were one of those few things that did. Linkin Park's music was a huge part of many, many people's lives.  
Why did I decide to give my two cents on this topic? Because depression is taking away many decorated people from this world. It's about time we get this into our head - if Chris Cornell, Kurt Cobain, Chester Bennington, Amy Winehouse and more are gone due to depression then it is as real as it can get. Chester looked for help but ultimately never found it. He had one mode of conveying his message and he did that through his lyrics. Now, if we listen to the lyrics of every Linkin Park song, it'd be crystal clear that it was a message from him to the world. He wanted us to know what he was going through since his childhood and that sometimes, people win against depression, but sometimes, they just don't.
Here I would like to quote from the Linkin Park track Easier to Run: "It's easier to run, replacing this pain with something numb; It's so much easier to go, than face all this pain here all alone; something has been taken from deep inside of me, a secret I've kept locked away; no one can ever see, wounds so deep they never show; they never go away, like moving pictures in my head; for years and years they've played."
Some people think it may have been cowardly to leave behind six children and a wife in this already messed up world but we are no one to judge Chester. Depression is a disease that doesn't discriminate, it's something that doesn't show mercy and eats us up from the inside with every passing day and getting over the reason of being depressed isn't always possible for the unlucky few. People, please be kind to others and not stuck up egoistic human beings - we all have problems and keeping that inside us isn't the right thing to do and that's why we should share it with the people who matter the most to us.
Despite the pace of development in the world today and everything, it's sad to see that our minds are not evolving alongside. Somewhere down the line I would blame development as well because it has given the power to us to be what we are today - judgemental and often biting the hand that literally feeds us. We tend to ignore the fact that the atmosphere we are living in is sucking us into this zone where the weak cannot survive even if they are trying to.
I will end this by quoting another verse from Easier to Run: "If I could change, I would take back the pain, I would retrace every wrong move that I made, I would...; if I could stand up and take the blame, I would, if I could take all the shame to the grave."
Thank you Chester for everything, you've inspired me during the most challenging moments of life.

Baibhav Chatterjee is a 23-year-old musician and copywriter.