Puzzle

There is a puzzle in a box that sits in a corner, almost forgotten.  The pieces, now faded and amber hued from age, were once young and bright.  They are unique pieces, unlike the pieces you would find in most puzzles.  These shapes fit together in many ways, which has often led people to feel they had solved the puzzle, though their unsatisfying end result was not something they could understand or appreciate.  In truth, that is the complexity of this puzzle; not to simply jam together the pieces that fit, but to take one’s time and inspect each piece and learn how it is connected to the others and why.  To assemble the work, not to conform to what you wish it would be, but as it was intended to be, even when you cannot understand the pattern.  Once this is done the puzzle will be yours and yours alone, as you and you alone will understand the truth its collective pieces speak.  The final mosaic shares a secret truth that is still bold despite the puzzle’s fading and scarred pieces.  The puzzle possesses neither pride nor envy.  It simply waits to be solved.  Each day that passes, each person who gives in after a failed attempt, each year of lost allure adds only to the value and singularity of its sacred humble secret.

What The World Needs Now

In an age of mob mentality, vengeful theocracies, wars against concepts and constants, and a predominantly jaded western mentality best described as a passive aggression, the salvation of the human spirit has become the task of Rogues.  In an age ruled by the incredulous, the inane, and the insane, governed by wrath, greed, and gluttony, and misguided by the fear of conflict born of contrast and the false hope we place in failing solutions, a true and noble warrior class is what we must promote.  In many ancient societies a select group of educated and determined leaders either took or were given power with the understanding that it was to make the world a better place.  In many cases the fall of those civilizations came shortly after relegating those arbiters to a mere position of title.  Now we look back at the tales of their deeds in disbelief, we call them myths and folklore.  Historians tell us now though, that upon inspection, many of these tales were true.  The few stood against the many, the small and hearty triumphed over the lumbering giants, and princes spread noble truths, which brought the world light in its darkest times.  I fear now, that dark times are upon us once more, and that without the effort of honorable rogues, all that we have struggled for in this world will be lost and forgotten, only to be recalled in the fairy tales of a mythical world where people were free from the tyranny of God-like corporations, corrupted domineering politicians, and organized religions. 

This is not my manifesto.  This is not a declaration of intent.  This is not a personal commitment of any sort, for I have already begun down my path.  This is a call to arms, a call to station.  This is a request for all who have means to assert themselves in this world.  Find a problem and fix it.  Search for the helpless to rescue.  Lend help to those who already struggle to improve the world.  Guard yourselves from the attacks of the ignorant multitudes, and take a measure of pride in the knowledge that people standing above the rest are often the easiest to shoot at.  If you find yourself exhausted but happy at the end of the day; if you strive to make something better, and to not hurt others in any way; if you fall and stumble time and again but continue to stand and start over time and again once more, you are among the counted few who deserve to enjoy the benefits of the paradise you are building.  This paradise, you may never see, your children may never see, but if you spend your life in this most noble of services, and inspire others to do the same, someday the children of your children’s children may enjoy a life blessed in such a way that this society of ours will seem as archaic and barbaric as it truly is.  If these distant offspring follow your example they may even deserve the world you have built for them, as we only deserve what has been given to us by taking full advantage of it and committing our actions to making it better. 

I ask you to rebel against the hypnotic chanting of the mob.  I ask you to swim against the flow.  I ask you to push the envelope, bend the rules, break the law, and walk other path to do what you can see must be done.  Tyrants and plagues are not merely maladies of the past.  They still bleed us and beckon our descent into despair, only now so many of them have mastered the tricks of popularity and fed us the seeds of indifference.  Seek out one of these dragons, these chimeras, and slay it.  There are plenty.  Go forth and be the hero you dreamt of as a child.  Give the world what you owe it, a life spent striving to cultivate health and happiness.