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This morning ...

Started by That One Guy, April 02, 2007, 05:11:26 PM

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That One Guy

April 02, 2007, 05:11:26 PM
This morning I could feel the bars around me when I woke up, from the cool grey sky dribbling onto the ground through the shades as my alarm was going off to the dully lit streets as they passed by the windows of the bus to the elevator that's in the building where I work. From one box to another to another to another to another.

At least some have windows ...

But what use is a view when it's through bars? What use is the sight of the sun on the leaves when it's through a pane of glass that feels like one long bar itself? When you're trapped in one cell after another, what does the scenery really matter? When you're trapped in a cell you bring with you, does it matter where you are?

Maybe it's better if you can't SEE the bars ...

That's what I think some mornings when the bars are so clear around me. When every wall turns into bars keeping me closed in, keeping my thoughts in line inside the approved limits of the cell I'm in. That's what I think during the times when I can see the cage everyone is bringing with them, surrounding them as they go off to work, go shopping, go to the bar for a bite and a drink. When I can SEE the bars, SEE the cages enclosing everyone (even me), SEE the baggage people carry around with them and that colors how they see the rest of us, I wonder ...

Can anyone ELSE see the bars? Or is it just me?

Or am I even seeing the bars at all? Are the bars REALLY there, or is it just because it's a rainy day and those always get me a little down? If it's all in my head, is it all JUST in my head or can other people see it too? If other people CAN see it, have they thought about getting out of the cage, opening the bars? Or are they so conditioned that they think the bars are SUPPOSED to be there?

Did we ever see the bars as they were being put around us?

When we were growing up, learning from our friends, the adults that taught us (intentionally and unintentionally), and anything and everything else, did we put the bars up ourselves? Did they, did WE give us the bars to weld in place? Did they know it was happening? Did they WANT to know? Did WE want to know? Or did we just put the bars up because we saw them around the people we were learning from and just wanted to fit in, to get along? Or were we born in the cell and didn't know any better until it was too late?

Seems like the bars were always around me, and I never even thought they were keeping me in.

After all, the bars seem like they've always been there, the cool iron taking on a comforting familiarity after enough time. Sometimes I had a bigger cell where the bars felt far, far away, other times I needed my cell small and tight to keep things OUT as much as the bars were keeping me IN. At least I've been able to change the cell once in a while, right?

Right?

...








Not sure if this goes better here or in BIP (I've been stewing this for a while since I read BIP, and it's a semi-rant against the bars of the cell so I wasn't sure where to put it) so feel free to move it there if it fits better. Also, while I've proofread it a bit, I'm definitely open to suggestions as to how to flesh it out some more. I had a lot I wanted to cram in there, so some bits are a bit more cryptic/subtle than I might otherwise have prefered, especially since I fell into a rhythmic style I was comfortable with. So have at it!
People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again! There will be coffee and cookies in the Gandhi Room after the revolution.

Arguing with a Unitarian Universalist is like mud wrestling a pig. Pretty soon you realize the pig likes it.

The Good Reverend Roger

#1
April 02, 2007, 05:15:57 PM
This is top shelf BIP stuff.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

LMNO

#2
April 02, 2007, 05:18:21 PM
I like this.  The hope-against-hope bit at the end, like a glimpse of light you can't quite see, is moving stuff.


TOG, you nailed it.

AFK

#3
April 02, 2007, 05:29:23 PM
10/10

Now to develop a product to work it into....
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

That One Guy

#4
April 02, 2007, 06:30:23 PM
 :mrgreen:

Glad you like - I wasn't really sure where it would be best, not just forum-wise, but in general. It feels to me like it's BIP-related, but not necessarily directly a part of it. Maybe an intro, maybe something separate-but-equal, maybe part of that interpretations concept that was going as an additional bit in the BIP forums. Basically, this is what bubbled up after a week or two ruminating on BIP.

I tend to ramble, and there's a LOT more I could have thrashed in there, but I didn't want it to be too wordy or cumbersome. I could probably have developed each section into something stand-alone, but I just ran with what was there, trying to get it to flow semi-stream-of-consciousness style.

Obviously kopyleft, use it wherever/whenever/however. Hopefully there's a place for it somewhere outside my head  8)
People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again! There will be coffee and cookies in the Gandhi Room after the revolution.

Arguing with a Unitarian Universalist is like mud wrestling a pig. Pretty soon you realize the pig likes it.

LMNO

#5
April 02, 2007, 06:59:23 PM
Put it on the wiki.

AFK

#6
April 02, 2007, 07:22:47 PM Last Edit: April 02, 2007, 07:27:13 PM by Rev. What's-His-Name?
Consider it done.....when I do it.   :D

edit:  done. 
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

Cain

#7
April 02, 2007, 09:37:13 PM
Moved as OP asked.

ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞

#8
April 03, 2007, 12:14:42 AM
:mittens:

Definitely one of my favorite BIP pieces.

Fluid, thought provoking, unassuming,Äîexcellent work.
P E R   A S P E R A   A D   A S T R A

B_M_W

#9
April 03, 2007, 12:38:30 AM
Excellent work, TOG.
One by one, we break the sheep from their Iron Bar Prisons and expand their imaginations, make them think for themselves. In turn, they break more from their prisons. Eventually, critical mass is reached. Our key word: Resolve. Evangelize with compassion and determination. And realize that there will be few in the beginning. We are hand picking our successors. They are the future of Discordianism. Let us guide our future with intelligence.

     --Reverse Brainwashing: A Guide http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=9801.0

6.5 billion Buddhas walking around.

99.xxxxxxx% forgot they are Buddha.

Jenne

#10
April 03, 2007, 01:28:39 AM
:mittens:  nice.

Triple Zero

#11
April 03, 2007, 11:23:01 AM
"This morning I could feel the bars around me" = "I have seen the fnords", sort of?
Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

LMNO

#12
April 03, 2007, 01:08:44 PM
Good call.  The feeling appears to be similar.

Rev. St. Syn, KSC (Ret.)

#13
April 04, 2007, 04:02:27 PM
Classic.
Synaptyclypse Generator Publishing Sect, POEE International Resource Center
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