You're a Human. Not a Machine

We move through life in our shrouds.

We have big brains, but little jobs. “Most men die at 25 but aren’t buried until 75,” Benjamin Franklin reportedly said.

We’ve become automatons. Get up, go to work, come home, go to bed. Occasionally pick up the kids from soccer practice. Life is a drab routine defined by monotony and unmet potential.

We work jobs we don’t like for bosses we hate just to avoid being homeless. We fund behemoths like Apple and Amazon because we’re conditioned to aggressively pursue material possessions. We’re forced to sit behind desks in cream-colored offices in the name of “productivity and collaboration” like caged animals.

And like the caged animal, our eyes glaze over a little more each day.

We’ve forgotten what it means to be human. To shape our destiny as we see fit. We no longer begin each morning with a sense of optimism and wonder. Instead of appreciating what we have we always want more. Many of us simply count the seconds until we can lay our heads on the pillow again.

We’ve accepted our fate. We go to the slaughterhouse willingly.

What a shameful, shameful waste.

Credit: Artem Sapegin on Unsplash

You’re too beautiful for such an existence.

You’ve been given the gift of gifts. The odds you were born are a whopping 1 in 10^2,640,000. Seriously. That’s like giving 2 million people a trillion-sided dice and everyone rolling the same number. I don’t care what your religious beliefs are (or are not), that’s a miracle.

You’re meant to do more than your best impression of a robotic arm on an assembly line.

You should be useful and creative. You should seek to help and inspire others. You should look to build something of meaning over time, large or small. In the twilight of your life you should be a masterpiece, not something headed for the dump heap.

You should run towards challenging opportunities, not away. You should meet adversity head on. Personal growth occurs during times of turmoil, not comfort. “Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship,” — Denzel Washington.

You should explore the depths of your soul. Understand what drives you, what motivates you, what makes you tick. What makes you hop out of bed in the morning and eagerly anticipate tomorrow in the evening.

You should do your best to find love. Real love. Not love that’s just ok or gets the job done. Soul-firing, gut-wrenching, vomit-inducing love. Colors are never as bright as when you’re in love and as gray when it’s ripped away from you. Yes, you should experience that too.

You should be moved to tears when you watch your favorite movie. You should close your eyes and drift away when the music hits just right. You should rage, rage, rage against the dying of the light.

You’ve been given an incredible gift. The gift.

Don’t waste it.

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Credit: Amanda Dalbjörn on Unsplash