Crescent Moon : Volume 1 (The Short Story Collection.)

To Live Free.

Every evening the sun sets beautifully in my city. This  often goes unnoticed and unappreciated though. It's just the end of another day for most and they quickly fill up every street corner and pathway.

A seemingly unending multitude, hustling and bustling by, knocking over each other with their hurried steps. After all everyone has got somewhere else to be and even more important things to do.

Soon the rather silent roads fill up fast before coming to a grinding stop, putting up the final touches to the typical 'rush hour' that I am used to. Hundreds of cars stuck in traffic, trying to outdo each other with dramatic loud honks and equally verbal rants as the people let out their pent up frustrations upon each other.

Sitted on the rooftop of a 7th storey building at my favourite low cost restaurant, I get to watch it all unfold before me. It's a familiar tale but today I ponder deeply on the view below me.

"Seriously, why the hurry? Every damn time."

Did I miss something? I surely must have. How is it that I seem to be the only one who is standing still, looking around, wondering just what the hell was going on. Something seems off, it's a gut feeling.

And wonder I do as watch everyone pass by. The distant haggard looks, the worried faces, the exhausted demeanors. They all look tired, tired and afraid.

"Dear God, why? why is it so hard, just to survive, just to put a meal on the table, just to have a roof over your head."

"I'm sure most of these people don't ask for much. Just a roof to sleep under, some food in their belly and for their children to be in school."

"Why all the struggles then, why all this pain?"

"Is this really how it's meant to be...?" I voiced my questions to no one really.

But the universe heard my cry and answered through a wise old soul who was sitted to my right, quietly sipping his cup of tea. He opened my eyes with his words of wisdom. This is what he told me.

"Why is there so much suffering you ask.?"

"Its simple really. You are but a mere slave. We all are. We were never free, they got to us right from the very start." I turned to him intrigued and taken aback by his sudden revelation.

"How... What do you mean?"

"You see when you are born, you are born with unlimited potential. You can be anything you want to be. But what you find is a world designed not to help you achieve this but to bind you in chains."

"Right from schooling, your intelligence and true self are turned against you. You are indoctrinated and taught to be passive and docile. Then you are taught to serve, taught to consume, then you are thrust into a vicious global cycle of consumption, debt and complete reliance on money. Money that loses value each and every single day."

"In the pursuit of basic sustenance, happiness and fulfillment you toil and labour more and more for the money that gives you less and less value. Most likely to make ends meet you will probably get into debt further enslaving yourself."

"They will own you now, and that's how they want it. An intelligent enough person to work for them, who'se neck deep in debt and mortgages. Debts that he will work and pay off for almost all of his productive life. You are just a cog, groomed and moulded for just the right fit, complete with a spare incase of incapacity."

As this all sunk in, I looked at my hands in disbelief. And truth be told I saw my chains as bright as day.

Is this all there was to life? Is this why I was born? To feed, sleep, work, consume. Repeat all the above till I can't no more, then pass the baton to my future sons?

I felt used and taken for a fool. All my hard work , all my dedication went straight into the pockets of some nameless, faceless exec. There he was living large while I fed on scraps.

No, I need to be free. Yes, I demand to be unshackled. I need to be all I can be, all I was meant to be. But this chains they have been here for eons, it's literally the entire world's system.

But some bright souls beat it, so can I, so should you. Fold up your sleeves, tighten up your laces. Let's go on out to conquer, like the kings and queens I know we are.

Yes I know we will have to endure, we'll have to sacrifice, we will have to give it our all. Truth be told this may well be the hardest thing you will ever embark upon. But I wouldn't want it any other way, I will rediscover myself and I trust what shall follow is a true life well lived.

You only live once, so why not. Why not choose to live truly.

To live free.