Through out Greece and Rome pillars of marble and stone can be seen that each similar to the other are in themselves quite unique. Often when thinking of the Coliseum or the Greek Temples I get caught up in these Pillars that stand holding the weight of the buildings. Often many can be found that have crumbled or collapsed under the test of time.
We as people are very much like these pillars. Similar to others but never the same, we walk through life bearing the weight of our world and in the end we collapse under the test of time, yet in our busy lives how often do we really stop to consider the importance of ourselves in comparison to others? Do we stop to think about what it is we truly need?
When asked what a person really needs most people answer with food, shelter a means to get around and clothes. The more religious may toss in to follow their god and to go on a spiritual journey. Very few actually stop to think of what the soul really needs, to be known, loved and to have companion through life. They also overlook the need to be ones self to nurture that which they are, not follow a path already blazed by society and worn by the flocks of people who blindly followed it, but to go out a make their own path, to be that which no one else is yet what everyone should be, themselves.
There is so much useless bagged handed to us as we grow up, when a realization is made that we need to go our own way there is a heaping mountain of baggage sitting there for us to weed through. Society creates a lot of rubbish yet at times it is difficult to tell where our individual self ends and who society tried to make us begin.
A good example of this is the current acceptance of dress in America. It is acceptable for a man to go topless in public but if a woman does she will be cited for breaking the law. A woman has no more to hide than a man. Most are as nature created them and are not that much different than another. Yet society has made it so that the sight of a topless woman in public is appalling and the thing I always found amusing is it is generally most appalling to other women.
There is no answer for why it is this way, just the b.s. we are fed to avoid keeping us from finding that there is no reason for it. In truth from the time these customs came around it may have been to separate the two genders, to maintain a control over woman, after all it is a stepping stone for dictating what a woman can and cannot do.
From the times this stems from women were not granted any protection by their clothes, in fact history show that in the early days of men the women especially commoner never reached their wedding bed as virgins, thus societies excuse of protection for the women is a blatant lie.
Another example of this is fidelity and adultery. It is taboo to have sex before marriage, especially in years past although there is a movement to instill that thought into our children today as well. Why is adultery bad? Because some poor guy, that most likely couldn’t get any, manipulated others into believing this way.
The fact is there are several ideals that are considered bad or evil that harms no one and really isn’t society’s place to be sticking itself, but it does and because of this a confusion of what is ourselves and what is societies baggage is often hard to differentiate between.
In our house we only have four rules for our children, they are;
· Respect
· Honesty
· Truthfulness
· Responsibility
It may not work ideally all the time but it does allow them to be themselves and in general our children are content. The other reason these rules work is because it is easier to show them their mistake clearly by pointing out how they broke the particular rule. My wife and I try to allow them to discover themselves and their real self however even so society tries to give them the excess baggage although they will have less than most people.
The individual is the most powerful thing in the world, when applied correctly it can subtly change the world around them and only be noticed in those who interact with the individual. To deny the individual is to deny the world a catalyst of change.
