Linkin Park - Leave Out All The Rest Lyrics Meaning

If I call you 'anonymous' I could be talking about half the population...so I'll just say, "The person who compared parts of their life with every line of the song". I've done this, and I'll do it again, right here, to show what the meaning of this song is to me.

"I dreamed I was missing
You were so scared
But no one would listen
'Cause no one else cared."

I feel like no one would care except for maybe my mom if I suddenly disappeared.

"After my dreaming
I woke with this fear
What am I leaving
When I'm done here?"

I know I'm not leaving very much behind if I die, excet for a bunch of junk that no one else would ever want. Really, the only thing of worth that I'm leaving behind is a memory.
I'm skipping the pre-chorus, "So if you're asking me, I want you to know" because it really doesn't mean very much.

"When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some
Reasons to be missed.
Don't resent me
And when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest
Leave out all the rest."

I've done bad things in my life, and I hold a very strong grudge against my dad that no one knows about but me. I'm only twelve. I plan to hold this in until I'm old enough to pull a "Hollyleaf" move: Let all this out, then disappear so I don't have to deal with the reactions of everyone. When I do tell everyone, though, I feel like they'll resent me, isolate me, alienate me. When I die, I want people to remember the good things.

"Don't be afraid
I've taken my beating
I've shared what I've made."

The 'beating' would be the emotional abuse that my dad rains down on everyone, especially me and my mom. And I share a lot of things I make, whether it's a drawing, a cat toy, some other craft, or a chunk of writing.

"I'm strong on the surface
Not all the way through
I've never been perfect
But neither have you."

This line...this one line has made me cry. I try to be strong emotionally, but it's mostly pretend. I have a weak heart when it comes to that. Although at my core, I must admit, I am cold. My desire for vengeance has frozen me from the inside. I am not perfect, and I never will be. I'm far from it.

-Pre-chorus again-

-Chorus again-

"Forgetting all the hurt inside
You've learned to hide so well
Pretending someone else can come
And save me from myself
I can't be who you are."

No one remembers why I hurt so badly, and hate him so much--but then again, I've hidden it so well that no one has any choice but to forget after a while. As for the next line, I halfway want someone to save me from the corruption I've faced since that day, but a tiny part of me wants to hold onto it, probably so I'll never forget what happened. And I feel like people want me to be like them...

-Chorus again-

-Bridge again-

And you may have been wondering what I talk about when I say 'hurt' and why I hate my dad so much.
This is a very sensitive subject for me. But I will say it.
It was two years, four months, and six days ago, on July twelfth, 2014.
My dad forced my mom and sister to drop off a lot of our cats by a nearby creek and abandon them there. He threatened to shoot the cats otherwise, he'd done it before. One of those cats was mine. Her name was Sunset. She was a dilute tortoiseshell with golden eyes. Very thick fur. Young. Until then, I didn't realize how much I loved her. I'd always push her away and tell her to get out from in front of the screen. As if a computer is more important than a pet. In October of that year, I realized just how much I missed her. That was just the first of many days that I cried my heart out because of her. We've looked. We've put up posters. She is nowhere to be found. After these years, it's hard to believe that there's any chance she would be alive. But the stubborn, hopeful part of me refuses to believe that she's gone forever.
And that's not the only reason I hate him so much.
Go to if you really want to read about it. It's far from a happy story.