I am thinking of the world and of people and living and dying.
I ask myself, is it a life worth living if I am not living a life I choose?
Governments cannot wage war if we are not willing to be soldiers.
Other people cannot enslave us if we are not willing to be enslaved.
What are the options, you might ask.
Emiliano Zapata once said "I would rather die standing than to continue living on my knees."
He made a choice.Life is about making choices, including the choice to live or not live.
What Zapata was talking about was living a life of his choosing. A life where the choices were his to make. A life where a person chooses how they live for themselves.
Of course, the choice to live or not live is not an easy choice. Far from it, it is one of the most difficult and stressful choices one can make. Yet and still, it is a choice.
Sometimes choices are ours for the taking. Other times, they are thrust upon us.
Would you choose to be enslaved so that your children may live, even as slaves?
Do you choose your battles carefully. Not fighting today so that you may live to fight another day. That's fine, as long as you fulfill your promise. It is a promise you know, otherwise you simply chose defeat.
The Dylan Thomas poem which tells us
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
is yet another affirmation of choice. You can choose whether to meet the darkness, the night, the end quietly or you can fight and rage. You do not need to meekly accept and fade away as a whisper.
Though I am not a Christian, even the Bible gives us the same advice in the 23rd Psalm...
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
Once again telling you that you have a choice. You need not be afraid if you choose to follow what you beleive is right. (in that case it would be the teachings of the biblical figure Jesus Christ.)
The point is there though all the same. You have the power of choosing your path with your choices and actions.
The message of choice is universal. At the same time, choice is limited by belief.
Do you truly beleive that you have a choice? Do you believe that the choices available to you are "worthy" or "reasonable" choices?
Can you choose life or death without it being a "failure" or submission to defeat in your mind?
Is your life the life you choose or is it one you simply accept?
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