We Decide
I’m trapped. Incarcerated in a abysmal pit disguised as a mansion equipped to quench my soul’s desire. Every sip of its refreshments creates more thirst than it alleviates. This mansion is full of people with pseudo smiles but deep inside their hearts are screeching groans and pains. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling but the light bulbs cease to serve their purpose; yet somehow, everyone navigates uninhibitedly. I yearn for freedom but lack the willpower to escape. I yearn to escape but my mind lacks the freedom to wander freely and independently of my fellow constituents that keep convincing me that escapism is somehow liberty. But, how did I get here? Actually, how did we get here?
Perhaps I should have realized that I forfeited my freedom the minute I decided to buy expensive chains to flaunt my wealth; only to come to the actualization that I was nothing more but a decorated slave. Perhaps I should have realized that I forfeited my freedom the minute I bought a foreign whip to drive freely even though I was nothing more but a foreigner still in chains getting whipped by this systems expectations and pressures. Perhaps you should have realized that you forfeited your freedom when you felt compelled to make bodily modifications to reflect a society based on lies and illusions. Perhaps you should have realized that you forfeited your freedom when you felt the need to adhere to societal standards not based on sound morality but rather a level of popularity. Perhaps we should have realized that we forfeited our freedom when we thought we didn’t have a choice. Except, we did.
A great friend of mines, David Menasche, once had a tattoo across his chest that read “I Decide.” For it is in our ownership to decide our own thoughts and course of actions that we remain unconstrained and unburdened by unrealistic expectations. In relinquishing our power to decide to someone else, we surrender our desire to live out our own lives but choose to live the life of another individual. And within surrendering, there is never freedom. The decisions we make today, shape the life that we live tomorrow; for we are becoming today what we are to be tomorrow. Thankfully, we have the choice to be free and make our own decisions. And in making our own decisions, we are able to live with whatever tomorrow brings because WE chose it.
Truthfully, in the end, we can choose the life we want to live and wear it’s fruits as our jewelry, or we can follow society and wear the things they wear, dress the way they dress, and eat the way they eat. But remember, wearing an expensive chain that everyone else wears should not yield a sense of belonging and accomplishment. Because in the end, by not choosing on your own, you are nothing more, but a decorated slave.
