the theory of (in)equality

If we were equal, where would we be? Imagine billions jostling for the same space, elbowing each other along the way. And a street kid getting equal opportunities as you did. Wouldn’t, couldn’t, he have done better?

Our dreams aren’t in perfect harmony; they are realized only by outdoing those of many others. If one rises from the dust, a score others rot like cadavers. Thrown to the hyenas. When a million palms unfold before you, which ones do you deem as worth redemption? Your peace can only be paid for by someone’s solace.

As you pay for your education, you begin to notice things they never taught. If the law sees everyone as equal, can justice be ever dispensed? While the more equal from amongst us snake out unscathed from trials that set dangerous precedents, the lesser majority have to painfully learn to moult.

If we weren’t equal, where would we stand? The upsurges accompanying our rites of passage are the same. And the insidious insecurity in mundane interactions sweeping across an arid expanse of timid hearts too. We, the living, bob our heads in perennial search of pigeon pleasure; we fly away at the slightest tremor that threatens; we poop out when no one is looking at us. We all bear the hours while awaiting the moments.

We, the rational beings? Individual existence is based on actions that hold meaning for oneself and are not necessarily rational. To label us as rational is to define us woefully out of context. There’s more convenience in method than is palatable. At some point, we do realize, and maybe acknowledge, that our lives are carefully nurtured lies. We wish we had lit a bonfire of our vanities. Now, vanity is all that remains of us.

Our lives, across conveniently constructed dominions, constitute the free history of a nation that has forever been encompassed by revolutions violent—within and without. Yet, as the gates of sovereignty were flung open, the door to the free mind stayed locked deep. With its key, corrupted by a plethora of dogmas and opinionated inheritances, dropped into a swirling mass that flowed into a common nothingness. This key has been, by virtue of being searched for, lost.

Love conquers all. Every cloud has a silver lining. Faith can move mountains. Everything happens for a reason. Where there is life, there is hope.

For a semblance of sanity, you need to be fed something at least.

Perspective mostly strolls in, in retrospect.