Poems

Life (Short Story #2)

     We are born to live short lives and die, but that's not the whole story is it? In a single moment of darkness - vulnerability - you can break or break out. An average human life of 80 years seems so long yet so short. The first 20 years you're not even a real adult. You go to school and study until graduating around 18 to either work what's considered a dead-end job or go through more school to get what's considered a decent job.  

     What defines it as decent? Is it the money that allows you to actually live in our world, or is it the fact you got a degree to work it? 

     Say you finish through high school, you're a legal adult but still a child. Do you stay home, do you move out, live in dorms? Further your education and worry about living arrangements, money, transportation, survival. End your education for now and worry about the same things. If you get that degree where do you go? Do you apply to your preferred job area and wait for that one call that you got the job or do you apply anywhere and everywhere you can because you have to make money and start paying off the debts of school?

     Congratulations! You got a job, but is it what you want? Did the schooling go to waste, the dreams to the trash, the energy and bright eyes sucked out of you? Look around at how far you've come and you aren't even 30! How can you be tired, you're young! How can you be so ungrateful when you have a degree, a job, a roof over your head? Kids these days, so ungrateful and entitled! What happened to working hard for everything?! You were so smart, so hard working when you were younger!

     Honor students, praised students, perfectionists, and high-achievers have a high rate of depression and anxiety. Things are easy at first, you understand it and don't have to struggle through it. If it's so easy, what happens to the growth? Everything comes easy and you're praised, but what happens when things get harder and that praise turns to accusation? The praise turns to accusations of a lack of effort, small comments here and there, outright yelling, or bullying because 'the smart kid isn't so smart after all' and you give up or work harder. 

     Work is different, right? It's not like school where you answer questions that have no relevance to you or your life. You worked to get here, to get this job, but does it pay enough to get you a comfortable home, support you, and allow for a healthy life? You wake up, do your morning routine, go to work, do your job, go home, do your night routine, go to bed. Small variations exist, drinks with friends, sick days, small outings in your free time, but what about your mind? Is your world what you want?

     We lack control of what we want to control. Over time you can gain control of yourself and your life, but what you choose to do with that control is what defines you. Do you live life thinking life is short and meaningless, or do you live it thinking life is short so you should live it to the fullest with what you have? Are you one of the two, or do you think a different way?

     What if the outlooks, the possibilities, were endless? Would you believe someone telling you that? The glass is half-empty, the glass is half- full, the glass has liquid in it, the glass has liquid and air in it. Life is short compared to the Earth's existence, compared to the life of trees centuries old, compared to the Universe and more. Life is long compared to most animals, compared to the life of a iris, compared to many parts of our world.

     We are born and have decades to live, two decades shy of a century on average. Will you focus on the future or the world of the present? Lose yourself in fiction to take a break from our world, wish to live in those other worlds, ignore the wonders around you. Wonders exist everywhere, not just where you have to pay to go, someone you've never been, or other worlds. 

     Light trickling through leaves, rays dancing between the shade against the soft grass. The rustle of leaves, vibrant colors fluttering to the ground as fall sets in and leaves fall. The sparks dancing across water at sunset. The trickle of water droplets slipping from leaves and petals to plop into puddles or onto the ground after a storm. 

     The world is full of endless wonders that can be seen no matter where you go, and life is what you make it. Even if others try to ruin it, you can make your life a good one. Even if you think you're only one person and can't do much, the chances are always increased by trying. Never try and they remain a zero, try and you can land anywhere and learn anything!

     We are born with millions of options to choose from, but nothing will come of it without action. You might hesitate to do something out of fear, but letting that fear control you will only hurt you. 

     We are born with a chance to leave an impression on our world. The only things keeping us from seeing those wonders, changing our world, and doing what we want is ourselves. Don't live your life as if you were born just to die.

Thanks for anyone that reads this! It's a bit of a rant, but I think it's meaningful. I will be doing updates once a week from now on, so expect another update by or before February 10th!

~Raven