One Day, Maybe We'll Meet Again

A Story Unfolding Across Timelines.

Current Time. Written on September 5, 2024, the day after the show.

And just like that, in my 40s, I found myself at a Thirty Seconds to Mars concert. Music has a huge presence in my life, and I attend rock concerts frequently. However, going to the Mars concert was a spontaneous decision, and I didn’t know what to expect since it was my first time seeing them. Given the challenging process I’m going through in my life, it was a wise decision to trust my gut and go for it.

I usually discover new music and artists by listening to the radio, letting various music apps run randomly on a specific genre, or receiving recommendations from people I know. I first came across Thirty Seconds to Mars's music when they performed in Israel about a decade ago. Since then, I've become mostly familiar with their popular songs.

A strange phenomenon sometimes happens when I don’t dive deeply into artists’ lyrics but keep listening to their music repeatedly. I can sing along with a song with all my heart, but when I google the exact lyrics, it turns out I’ve made up words and completely messed up with the meaning of it. While some might think this happens because English is not my first language, so I might not understand its meaning, I have a surprise for you. This mysterious phenomenon also happens with Hebrew songs.

A song that I completely destroyed its meaning is Mars’s “The Kill.” Since it’s one of their popular songs, it often comes up when I let music apps shuffle randomly. While the correct chorus lyrics are “Come, break me down/Bury me, bury me/I am finished with you,” I was convinced it went “Come, break me down/Marry me, marry me/I am finished with you.”

To normal and realistic people people, this misinterpretation wouldn’t make sense. The song expresses a strong desire to break free from a destructive relationship, and I relate to that. So how did “marry me” even come into the mix, except for the fact that “bury” and “marry” sound similar? For Moroccan Israeli men, it does make sense. This is the normal reality they live in. They can express extreme and contradictory feelings or desires at the same time because, in their world, that’s how life works.

As a Moroccan Israeli woman, I know Moroccan men very well. I grew up with them at home, and they surround me en masse in my large family. They’re everywhere you look in Israel and the United States. After all, there are nearly a million of them in Israel alone. So saying, “Break me,” then “marry me,” and ending with “I am finished with you” is their definition of being normal. My subconscious understood this long before I did because I only recently discovered my mistake, even though the song was released almost 20 years ago.

Back to the show, I would use the word wonderful to summarize yesterday's experience. I expected a young audience, but to my surprise, there were many older fans in the crowd. More than that, seeing parents bring their children to concerts always fills my heart with warmth and love. Taking children to concerts is the best education parents can provide and the most memorable experience children will have in their lifetime.

My father took us to every show he could find tickets for or any free performances in the area. That’s why my siblings and I love music so much. These experiences and feelings stay with us forever and are truly priceless. So, my advice to all parents reading this is to take your children to as many experiences as possible. These memories will remain in their hearts forever, and they will cherish you for creating them.

As the lyrics from the final song of the show, “Closer to the Edge,” say: “One day maybe we’ll meet again.” Well, I hope we will. When Jared said at the end of the show that he wasn’t feeling well but still performed, I was full of admiration but also deeply concerned. As a hypochondriac in recovery, I take every word seriously, and it’s important to me that we all stay healthy. As a Jewish girl, I would offer to make him chicken soup, but that’s useless since he’s vegan. So, in the coming days, I recommend wearing warm clothes and maybe even seeing a doctor, just to be safe. Health is not something to take lightly, so remember to go for routine checkups. Trust me, I’m an engineer.

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Liat