To Run Away From It All

I am definitely not the first one, nor will I be the last, to question the purpose of what one defines as life. For some, it is to live for the deities they choose to believe in. For others, it is to accumulate the unit called money that runs the entire planet. And for others, it is to seek the "meaning" of life, and to say that one knows the meaning of life means just as much as the other individual who claims the same claim. I will not say that these actions are meaningless. But where does all this take us?

This is a depressing, and rather cliche, statement, but everyday, people die. Elderly people, who once were in their prime, who lived out their lives according to what they held important, and who were images of the generations before them that lived a similar routine. And young people, who perhaps were at the "wrong place at the wrong time," or felt obligated to share their views with the world, rebelliously, forcefully, or peacefully. And these people-- millions of people who live-- pass on, are mourned for, and... then what? The woman who worked everyday for thirty-five years in Southern Africa passes away from a common disease, and what of it? What is used as a meager attempt to answer such a depressing, pessimistic question? "Life goes on. Life is unfair."

And the people move on with their lives-- the lives that they live according to their opportunities and advantages. The smart individual receives the degree, and owns a business. The attractive woman becomes a singer, and a celebrity. The child born in the slums learns how to stay alive by stealing. The only similarity between all of these is that eventually, they will pass away, and new people are born again to mimic, replace and copy those same roles, which they will go to define as "their lives."

And is that the extent of our time on Earth? Am I-- a generic student who strives to receive an education to make money, at the cost of money-- supposed to live out a life similar to countless others born before me, or at the same time as me, or after me? To be so incredibly insignificant in the "grand scheme of things?" Most people would say, "Yes. Because life goes on."

I don't want to live the life of so many others. Foreseeing the future is almost too easy, since the proof is all around me, in one manner or another. The classic situation of the student who took out loans to have fun in college, only to pay it back later, whilst paying bills and taxes is, in my opinion, not the life anyone yearns for. What is the reason of working so hard, attaining so much knowledge, learning from all the experiences if one just passes on by, just like another fallen leaf in the wind?

So many rules to abide by. So many restrictions, limits, and shortcomings.

I want to live the life no one can live. I want to live an impossibility. A dream. I want to run away from it all.

I believe that that would be, at the very least, a real life to have. Because if one lives in that manner, it would be what others could never achieve. It would be the one that made it through the sea of endless cycles and routines that people drag themselves through, and call their "lives."