A person with inner dignity is never embarrassed. –Cheaper By the Dozen (1950)
So I stand here alone Having more than a moment to think As the crowd watches below My head is spinning but held high Even as the bright lights shine down
Freedom isn’t about getting to do everything you want; it’s about being responsible for everything you do, and being responsible for the results of what you do as well. As a free person, you get to choose, but you also have to be responsible for your choices. –MarbleGlove
For oft have I stood on the path
Reasoning to myself where to turn
Even as the road stretches onward
Eclipsing the option to return
Many want and need to grow
Only to find their will is not enough
Regrets fill our lives
Especially when we forget to try
If you want to be more, failure will only refine you as you continue striving towards your goal. Don’t forget that falling down is part of learning how to walk.
Too often we all demand
Reaching out with grabbing hand
Unstable in our own ways
Searching for more honest days
Taking instead of giving most days
Sometimes we forget that trust has to be given in order to be built up in the first place.
“Heroes are unaware of the privilege inherent in their worldview and villains lack the luxury of ignorance.” –dls
She had to argue against what she had read. Lila had known plenty of villains who had remained ignorant of how the world worked, though most of those villains either weren’t actually villains (she tried not to think of the one who really just wanted a friend and had one in his nemesis. Maybe that was why the old man never really did anything too nefarious or dastardly…) Those that were real villains likely didn’t even realize that they were villains, because they saw themselves as the heroes of their story.
Like the one Lila had watched take over her planet.
Michael believed that he was helping the denizens of his new world have a better life. If he controlled everything, then there was no crime. Death happened, of course it did, but it wasn’t violent and was, in fact, something that was painless. Everyone who died did so in their sleep.
Mostly because everyone had a cut off age (decided, nominally by themselves for how long they wanted to naturally live, but no one ever knew what someone else’s cut off date was. Only the Officials that Michael put as the Overseers of the River of Styx knew when the cut off date chosen was. How could anyone else know if the cut off date was even what the dead person had chosen then?) You didn’t even have to go to the Officials.
They came to you.
No one knew how they got in your home, because nothing was ever moved. No noises were made to wake anyone else up in your home, whether they were animals or humans.
You just went to bed after wishing those you lived with good night (if you lived with someone) and then you didn’t wake up in the morning.
Everyone knew what had happened. It was covered in detail when you were sixteen solar cycles and asked to communicate your cut off date.
This wasn’t the kind of thing that someone else should be scheduling.
It wasn’t the kind of thing Lila thought anyone should be scheduling, much less actually following through on!
This wasn’t even the worst of things that Michael had set up, it was just always one of the first things that Lila thought about.
Mostly because she knew that the chosen cut off date wasn’t always the one that was honored.
She didn’t know how many others knew. There was no way to find out. You could never be certain who wasn’t a plant from the Overseers and who was genuine. There was really no safe way to find out.
Lila should know.
She’d almost lost her life and her freedom the last time she’d taken a chance.
She’d only lost a few fingers instead, but considering it could have killed her instead…
Lila’s still not certain just how she was able to get away and remain hidden. As far as she’d known up until that point, no one had been able to do such a thing on Michael’s New World Order.
A part of her wonders if it’s the only other lie told to everyone the world over. The practical side of her knows that it doesn’t matter unless she’s able to find others to work with.
Of course, finding others to work with will mean nothing if they don’t have a way to fight back.
And they don’t.
You only get access to anything that can be classed as a weapon if you work for a specific part of the New World Order.
So many things never make sense
Allowing thoughts to wander
Finding moments of insight
Even as the details blur away
Taking with them much
Yet leaving clarity behind
Have you ever just been walking along, or reading, or watching a movie, or even just listening to music while working and out of nowhere it happens…
Not going to say it was easy
Initially was pretty rough
Can’t seem to speak clearly
Knowing it could disappear in a puff
Not going to give up so easy
Actually going to cling
My friends still like to tease me
Even as together we fly on wing
This was what came to mind while I was reading a book about a group of friends.
Too often we prattle on
Reaching out with thoughts alone
Unable to bring ourselves to speak
Seeking love, silently, not appear weak
Tucking misery in our chests to sleep
The world is silent
Hold your breath and count to ten
Open eyes again
image: from martha0stout’s phone
