There you are, sitting at your desk, trapped in a world concealed by a computer screen. Falsely, you feel superior because your number of gadgets and funky bumper stickers with that “I don’t care” flair sorely outnumber your coworkers. Don’t mistake this for superiority. You find yourself cornered between the same four walls, limited by the same restrictions, day in and day out.
Blindly, you go through mundane tasks. You think that what you are doing displays your creative drive—you stay where you are because it is a reasonable way to make money while you pretend to be on a stepladder to fulfilling your dreams. I have seen your dreams.
Or, what is left of them.
The rotting carcass of a beast that was once worth pursuit lying, festering, in its degradation. The truth is that you came to this concrete jungle with all positive intent. A dreamer, a musician, a filmmaker, an artist. The journalistic aspirations you once had are now watered down, feeding into the buying and selling—selling and buying. Your world, your intent, was always to be funded. People don’t believe in your complex art, so you have resorted to “achieving” what is not even second best. You’ve taken the cynic’s road—content with a shadow of the life you once dreamed.
While you shade yourself in this shadow—the death of your desperate dream—and find comfort in its dulled color and variations of black and gray, I will be living my life of color.
In my world, the sun still makes an appearance. I, myself, am a beam of light; you catch me with a passing glance and in the blink of an eye, I am gone. I dance my way into an array of settings: Your workplace, your bar, your apartment building, your grocery store, your dinner party, your hike in the Ramapo Mountains… your heart. I provide smiles and laughter, quickly gaining the trust of my peers, and rightfully so. I am a keeper of secrets, an active listener. I am the most rare gem of a positive influence. Do not mistake my childlike ways for childish behavior. I am an entertaining spark, driven by passion while maintaining an independence that fools cannot break and an energy unmatched by other creatures.
I am the only one of my kind in this concrete jungle.
To be continued…
