I decided to take my once-daily 5 minute scroll through Twitter today and was bombarded with news of an eye of fire in the ocean.

An eye of fire. The ocean is on fire.

Okay, it’s a little (a lot) more complicated than that, but it’s still crazy to think about, especially considering how messed up everything else in the world seems to be.

It got me thinking about my childhood. For some unknown reason, I spent every summer of my youth thinking the world was going to end. It was pretty much a constant fear. Global events always seemed to heighten during the hot weather, and it left a young me riddled with all kinds of anxiety.

This was never more prevalent than the tail end of the summer of 2007 when a certain American rock group released a song that sent my mind spiraling.

Of course, I’m talking about Matchbox Twenty’s “How Far We’ve Come.”

I have vivid memories of being in the backseat of my parent’s car, hearing this song, and going into what I now know to be a panic attack. I even recall a nightmare I had of taking shelter from nuclear war in a laundromat with Hillary Clinton as Rob Thomas sang this song.

It’s nice to know I was just as irrational then as I am now.

Looking back, I can see that this behavior was a touch absurd. But Matchbox Twenty really messed me up for a while with that song. Even though the lyrics gave me horrible anxiety (it literally starts with “I’m waking up at the start of the end of the world”), I actually liked the song. It was catchy, it had a cool drum beat in the beginning… it was a good song.

It just gave me crazy anxiety.

I am glad to say that as a person scarily approaching their 30s, this song no longer has the same affect on me. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s one of my favorite Matchbox Twenty tracks, which is a pretty high accolade considering my love for this band.

See, back then, I interpreted the song as a warning. That the world was ending and we had to prepare for it. But as an adult, I hear the message for what it really is.

I believe the word is burning to the ground.
Oh well, I guess we’re gonna find out.
Let’s see how far we’ve come.
Let’s see how far we’ve come.

Instead of focusing on the ending of something (whether that be the world, a relationship, or any other moment in our lives), let’s reflect on how we got to where we are. What happened? What progress has been made? What can we learn from all of this? What was the point?

“Can you tell me what was ever really special about me all this time?”

The music video is a collection of clips of people and events that have changed the world forever. We see JFK, Muhammad Ali, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, among others. Sure, it’s easy to focus on the bad. But there’s a lot of good, too.

And in case the world isn’t ending quite yet, let’s take a moment to look back on what went wrong, and do our best to create a legacy we can be proud of.

I can tell you one thing for certain– there’s no questioning the kind of legacy the members of Matchbox Twenty will leave behind.

Man. What an incredible band.

Featured image taken from Matchbox Twenty – She’s So Mean (Official Video) via Matchbox Twenty