ecently I had the pleasure of my band playing at the same festival as Flyleaf. Their singer, Lacey Mosley, is a fantastic songwriter, though she focuses on rather dark lyrics, in some people’s opinions. The song “Cassie,” which often comes across as communicating suicide, is the foremost of these. Indeed, I hadn’t exactly wanted to listen to the song after reading the lyrics for the first time. It has a lot to do with bullets, taking lives, and death. These lyrics aren’t what I like to think about.

But when taken in context, as communicated by the author, Lacey, it is easy to see how the lyrics could be a crazed teenager with a gun asking if another teen actually believes in God, with the intention to shoot and kill if the answer is “yes.”

Lacey wrote her song shortly after the shooting at Columbine, 10 years ago. One of the students, Cassie, was rumored to have been asked whether she believed in God. When she answered “yes,” Dylan Klebold fired at least two shots at her, killing her. While the song sounds like someone wishing to commit suicide, the actual meaning in the context of Columbine changes perception enormously.

If the words of a song can be misinterpreted, what of the things we say in fun or in sarcasm? What I am getting at is that, very often, people misinterpret the message of words we write or speak. I have had first-hand experience with this, saying one thing that was meant to be sarcastic and having a close friend interpret my words as a threat. It nearly broke the friendship, and we still have yet to regain enough respect in order to reach that position again.

Think about the words you speak and the possible meaning behind them before you actually say them; in other words, think twice. Even the Bible warns of this. Proverbs 29:20 says, “Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

Editor's note: The "Totally Teen Talk" columns reflect the perspectives and experiences of the writer.