Fragile

How can there only be 16 comments on a song so beautiful, so powerful, so true??

The song was inspired by the death of an innocent man who was mistaken for an enemy and killed when all he actually wanted was to help. I don't know what is worse: killing someone accidentally/by mistake or killing someone because you want to...

To me, the song points out that either way, all forms of violence, are brutal, tragic and most of all useless (nothing comes from them)! And if not you object to violence in general, perhaps you need the death of an innocent to awake you and make you re-think the methods and use of war or violence. I think that's what Sting means with "Perhaps this final act was meant to clinch a lifetime's argument..."

I totally agree with Sting (well, I always do, I think g)!

[Sting]: Fragile (1988) I was reading about a young American in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua who was shot by the Contras. I felt very sad. This guy had gone to Nicaragua to try to help, and ended up being mistaken, deliberately or otherwise, for a Marxist guerrilla. I think there was a lot of that kind of mistake being made. This idea of fragility was a very important one for me. It's very easy to kill people. It's almost a casual thing. The song's taken on many meanings since then, though. People think its an ecological song, because of my other interests. I suppose they think of the fragile eco-system and think, Sting must be singing about that. But I suppose it's the mark of a good song that it can have many different shades of meaning, so I'm not arguing. I've never written a tree-hugging song in all my years of tree-hugging.

This is undoubtedly Sting's most beautiful song. He has dedicated it to the victims of the 9/11 Tragedy.

This song is a long-time favorite of mine, although the meaning changed for me over time.

In 1992, my ex-boyfriend stabbed a man to death and went to prison. He'll be released this year (2013). Over 20 years of his life was wasted away in prison, while another man's life was taken, because he couldn't or wouldn't control his rage. He dragged me into the murder that night by calling me repeatedly during the hours it took to end this man's life with his horrendous, bloody massacre.

When I was a child, my father often quoted Isaac Asimov, "Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent." So for me, this final act clinched Dad's lifetime's argument. The part about being "born beneath an angry star" is really touching to me, as I believe there are people who truly cannot control their rage due to some kind of brain damage or genetic issue. My ex was one of those people. Whether the murder was his "final act" of violence remains to be seen.

"If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one, Drying in the color of the evening sun, Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away, But something in our minds will always stay.

Perhaps this final act was meant To clinch a lifetime's argument, That nothing comes from violence, and nothing ever could.

For all those born beneath an angry star, Lest we forget how fragile we are..."

The Great War The Passage of time Scars remain

The Second War Nuclear Fision Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Beware even without so much as the rain we perish How fragile we are

I first heard this song years ago... still one of my favorite sting's song... a very beautiful song indeed..

this is one of the most beuttiful songs ive ever heard. tells us how valuable our lives are, but we dont relize it until they're lost ... at least thats what i think of when i listen to it. the 'true' message/s (not the one that i have in mind) would have to be: how meaningless violence is, how valuable our lives are etc.

great song ... my fave (by sting) jacob_c7

its spooky how much this song is just obviously about 9/11, even though it was written before it happened.

sting is so like that.

I don't really understand this one part:

"Perhaps this final act was meant To clinch a lifetime's argument That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could For all those born beneath an angry star Lest we forget how fragile we are"

Everything else seems pretty plain, though. The imagery of "Blood will flow when flesh and steel are one, Drying in the color of the evening sun...Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away, but something in our minds will always stay" is just BRILLIANT.

This song is about war and the state of the world/violence in general, and it's affects:

"If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one" =bullets, weapons

"Tommorrow's rain will wash the stains away, but something in our minds will always stay"=War/violence has a lasting effect, long after the actual physical effects are gone and the dead are buried

"Perhaps this final act was meant....yada yada....for all those born beneath an angry star, lest we forget how fragile we are"=Some act of violence/war over some issue..land, religion, politics, etc..but it proves again that violence solves nothing. The "For all those born beneath an angry star" those are people, I would imagine, who live in a state of war or violence..."lest we forget how fragile we are" means that war/violence affects everyone in an infinite number of ways, we/life is so fragile..etc.

The end of the song plays off the first verse speaking about the rain, on and on the rain falls from above, washing away the "stains" of war/violence but also serves as a reminder of what it is there to "wash away".

At least, that's my opinion. ;)