This is a great idea, because MCR really have had such huge effects on so many peoples lives.
They saved me when I didn't even want it, really. It's kind of a long story but I'll summarize as best I can...
Basically, my senior year of high school I lost my best friend. I was treating her like shit, and I wasn't acting like myself in pretty much any other way either, and she was the only one that could have ever made me realize it. To do that, it pretty much took a slap in the face...she told me I wasn't myself and it hurt too much to be around me and she couldn't do it anymore. And it was then I realized what I'd been doing, but I had hurt her too much...she wouldn't listen to me or talk to me again, wouldn't give me another chance and I damn near went crazy trying to get her to forgive me. I went into an incredibly deep depression that lasted about a year, and a more lasting deep seated kinds of life altering depression that lasted about three years. I got to the point that I was going through life, but I was a mess on the inside. I had new friends and a lot of good things going on but I was still miserable. I didn't even really know how to be happy anymore, and I was sure I never would be again.
Still, I was doing better than I'd expected to ever do so I was ok with it, and I thought I was fine. Then, this past February, a series of really bad events happened that I won't go into, but there were about four really painful personal things that happened, the last of which was hearing that my ex-best friend STILL holds a grudge against me for everything that happened, that three years have passed and she's not any less angry or bitter than she ever was...and on top of the other things that had happened, that was more than I could take. I had always held out hope that we'd work things out someday, but that killed my hope which was pretty much the last thing I was hanging onto.
I had been suicidal once before, and I had promised her I'd never do that again, but after hearing that, it seemed like my promises to her didn't matter. I started cutting(something I had also done years before) and I was seriously considering suicide.
Meanwhile, just about a week before all this happened, I had started listening to MCR. I had heard Welcome To The Black Parade and Teenagers before and liked them but never been interested enough to get a CD. I heard Sharpest Lives, and that had been enough to push me into getting Black Parade. I started listening to it, and within the span of a day I realized it was the best music I'd ever heard in my life. Anyway, point being, as I was falling apart, I was also starting to listen to MCR...and in doing that, I went into it the way I do everything else I get into and I spent all my spare time on it. In the process of that, I started watching videos online, and listening to Gerard...
I was really out of touch with everything, there for a couple months, but MCR and Gerard in particular became my stabilizing force. One of my best friends was really, really worried about me but she knew she had no chance of getting through to me, but Gerard did. The first time I heard the whole "nothing is worth hurting yourself over, nothing is worth taking your life" speech, I knew it was everything I needed to hear, and that I needed to listen to him and get my life in order, but I didn't want to. I'd been messed up for so long I didn't want to be fixed.
But luckily, I have amazing friends who realized that was just what I needed, and when I tried to stop listening, they kept pushing MCR and Gee's amazing words back in my face until I did listen.
My life has totally turned around. Because of Gerard I stopped cutting, and I realized that even thinking about suicide is stupid and taking the easy way out. Because of him I was able to let the past go, and by following his lead I was able to pick myself back up. My whole life I've never had good self confidence, but I do now. His influence on my life goes from the big things like the fact that I'm not cutting or suicidal anymore to little things, like that fact that I was never good at speaking in front of a crowd but I can do it now no problem, because he taught me "Stand up fucking tall/Don't let them see your back and take my fucking hand and never be afraid again." And I'm not. Because of him, I'll never be afraid of anything ever again. I'm happy now, beyond happy. I never thought I would be able to say that again. I owe him more than my life; I owe him everything.
I know this was really really long, and I'm sorry, but I just feel so strongly about this...MCR was a Godsend, for me, and their music and Gerard's words in particular(though ALL of the guys mean something to me)have made all the difference in the world to me and to a lot of other people as well. There's no better legacy any band could ever hope to leave than that.