The lyrics are inspired by a visit Dexter Holland made to his old neighborhood, Garden Grove in Orange County, California. Seeing that most of his friends met tragedy (car accident, nervous breakdown), he wrote the song that details the ruined lives of a group of childhood friends. The four kids—Jamie, Mark, Jay, and Brandon—all had the potential to have extraordinary lives but each of them ended up throwing it away in a different fashion (Jamie "had a chance well she really did", but she dropped out of school, got pregnant and had a couple of kids, Mark stays home playing guitar and smoking a lot of pot, Jay committed suicide, Brandon "OD'd and died").

This fits well with the concept of the album: unpleasant realities of American life. In this case, children are promised they are growing up to a future of unlimited potential, but in reality, most of that potential is never realized.