Although I have found nobody with the same assumptions as me, I believe that this song is about the Holocaust. I have recently studied this topic in school and, at one point, we were supposed to find a song and connect the Holocaust with it. I did this song.

The first line, "Half way around the world lies the one thing that you want, buried in the ground, hundred of miles down," has two meanings. I first thought that, because so many people died in the Holocaust and that many families were separated, I was thinking that maybe it is about somebody longing for their family members that are buried under the ground. By "hundred of miles down." I would think that as emphasizing the point that they can never see them again or even their grave, since going to the Synagogue was forbidden. And "Halfway around the world" could be saying how the survivor was forced to be pulled away from the burial site and to one of the many camps. Somebody else told me that it could mean the freedom in America, which is also a possibility.

The next line, "The first thing that arises in your mind when you awake
Is bending you til you break, let me hold you now" could connect to the labor camps. Here, the Jews had to do strenuous labor and, honestly, the rest is pretty much self explanatory.

The chorus itself reminds me of when they would hide during actions. Actions were times when the gestapo (German police/Nazis) raided Ghettos (a place where they had put all the Jews together) and tried to kill as many people as possible and capture people to send to camps. Many Jews had bunkers which were holes in the ground where they would hide. There were many other hiding places but bunkers were rather common. It says "Don't open till the morning light" and since actions lasted for a very long time and the Jews in hiding would wait three days sometimes before coming out again, I thought of it as waiting for either the sign to come out or just knowing when the three days were up.

"Is coming with the dawn and suddenly changes" would be about how unexpected the war was. There were many times the Jews thought they were free but the Germans managed to fight against the Allies. Causing the war to continue.

The line following that says, "The Monday syndicate meets everyone the same
All we've lost to the flame, listen to me now" Well, I'm not sure why it is Monday but I do know that syndicate is like a mafia or secret group, or, in this case, like the Nazis. And since they meet everyone the same, I think you get the point. Also, it says "all we've lost to the flame" and the word holocaust actually means wide spread destruction by fire. So they lost a lot to the holocaust, get it?

"Someday when this is over. We may still have no answer." I think this line would refer to why Hitler chose the Jews. Why Jews? Why didn't he like them? There are lots of speculation on this subject but nobody is certain. That is why we still have no answer.

They repeat the line "We Are Closer" because, although the Holocaust ruined so many lives and separated many families, it also made them closer. They lost everything and the only thing they might of had left was their family, making them their top priority. The horror of it all though is that nobody could stay with somebody for very long, which saddens me greatly.

This backs up the line "We haven't lost it all yet" because they still had each other and some would continue trying to survive for their loved ones. This also connects to "All we know for sure is all that we are fighting for."

Their are many people out there who are saying the Holocaust never happened and I feel that this is offensive to the survivors. Even if the Fray hadn't intended the song to be about the tragic event, I can at least hope that more people will realize it with my explanation.

This is a wonderful song, I love it!