A year ago, we lost a voice,
the voice of broken souls.
We lost a man
who gave his heart
again and again and again.
We lost a soul
who was fighting too many demons,
who refused to let darkness destroy him,

we lost a man who lost a war.

On July 20, we remember Chester Bennington,
whose voice has resonated with millions.
We hear the music and we cry,
we watch his antics and laugh with tears in our eyes.
We remember his kind heart and determination,
and carry that spirit in us with every warm gesture we make.

Rock in Peace, Chester. We miss you.

We all are haunted. We all have demons.
Demons that are invisible, invincible.
Some makes us strong others leave us feeble.
Someone once said, you can never completely comprehend
or not even pretend
to understand what's going on in someone's head , not because it's too complicated but because it's not meant for you.
The person may be your family , your love or your best friend, there will always be something in their shadows
hidden and there's not much you can do.
Those shadows are put there to show them where does the light come from.
To push a man in the right direction.
But sometimes when the light is stronger and brighter than it supposed to be,
these shadows grow darker and denser,
taking over eventually.
But even the darkest places on earth let alone in heart ,
can be lightened up with just a spark.
But a man drowned in darkness ,
can't get his hands on the switches that lighten up the room.
He is too blind even to ask for help,
he doesn't see you there but in your heart you know you care.
But the man starts to get skeptical ,
that doubt does nothing but just fastens up the fall.
He ends up shooting in the dark, ends up hurting himself.
Eventually he makes the call.
A deal with the devil.
what he thinks will end it all.

And you stand there ,
watching him drown;
But all you could do is stare.
Give excuses to yourself , how you couldn't do much or nothing at all.
Unwilling to accept that it was also your fault.

We all crave , we all break .
We all love and love can save.
Some demons are invincible
but all demons are avoidable.
You know you love him or her
but that's not always enough.
You have to show, even if a little.
A small thanks or a mild smile
these small things are all that's needed
to light up a spark.
and sparks start fires.
in some cases fires save lives.
- Rakesh Swain.

Dear Chester,
This letter, even though you will never see it, is a thank you letter.
When I saw the news today of your death, my world turned upside down. I was shaking, crying, barely able to breathe. I was so shocked to see your name in a headline alongside the words “Dead” and “Suicide”. I didn’t believe I for a while, because I’d also seen the article about your death being a hoax, but then I saw Mike’s tweet, and the news stories on NY Times and Washington Post, and I realized - it was true. My greatest inspiration was gone.
I can’t really pinpoint when you became such an inspiration to me. I started listening to Linkin Park when I was in seventh or eighth grade, after my mom put the Twilight soundtrack on my iPod shuffle and I heard Leave Out All the Rest. LOATR soon became my favorite song, and it still is six years later. I started listening to LP religiously after Living Things came out. I fell in love with the raw emotions of Meteora, and the clean energy of Living Things; the eager buzz of Hybrid Theory and the simple but true sound of Minutes to Midnight. A Thousand Suns completely blew my mind.
As I started to learn more about the band, I also learned more about you. I found out that you had a rough life growing up, struggling with ****** abuse as a kid, and drugs and alcohol as a teen and young adult. Depression tormented you your whole life. But you drew strength from those experiences, and became this amazing badass with a big heart who would do anything for his friends and family. You didn’t stop shows because of a broken arm, or cancel tours because a spider bit you in the ***, and even when you did have to end a tour because of a broken leg, you came right back as soon as you were able to give us the show we’d been waiting for.
You never failed to show your love for your fans, your family, or your fellow band members and musicians, and we all noticed and loved that.
I admired your dedication to the people around you, and how tough you always were, and how you stayed so strong and kept such a big smile on your face. Your amazing singing voice kept me going through the standard teenage angst phase that is high school.

For a long time, a huge dream of mine has been to see Linkin Park live, to see you and Mike and Brad and Phoenix and Rob and Joe on stage, playing all of my favorite songs. An even bigger but less likely dream was to actually meet you, hug you, and say, “Thank you.”
It breaks my heart to realize that now, that will never happen. You’re gone. Your beautiful voice can now only be heard in recordings, your grin now only seen in videos and photographs.
I still can’t fully believe that you’re gone.
And even though your death was one that seems to leave no hope, you still are and always will be an inspiration to me.

Thank you, Chester.
I know that you will never see this, but thank you.

Rock on forever,
  Sky