Burning the complacency

Remember our worlds much younger
focused on the goal and not the risks
More years go by and the less we notice
living in fear of any consequence
What is compromised?
Settling for security
"It could be worse" as life's philosophy means
that nothing will be any better
Trading ambition and our own confidence


This first verse of the song "Calendar Year" by the (now defunct) band Haste is so true, it is painful. I remember growing up, the world was mine for the taking. I'd dream about what I would want to be when I grew up or what I wanted to do, and there was nothing to stop me from dreaming. But the older I grow, the more I become hesitant and compromise my dreams for security. It's a failing of character that has to change. I need to get back to that simpler time when I was focused on the end destination and not the hardships that line the way.

No fear of living beyond the lines
A revolution against apathy
I will decide what progress means to me
These rules that bind me
I will change...ignite this spark into a flame

I think a "revolution against apathy" (and complacency) is really what I need. Part of me wishes that I could burn most of what I own and wander freely, and while I don't think I will ever do anything that extreme, I do plan on traveling a lot once I graduate, and hopefully greatly reducing the amount of my possessions. The Australian natives do what they call a "Walkabout" which is essentially a journey/a rite of passage undertaken wherein a person wanders through the wilderness and only stops to occasionally work or help others out.

In the modern West, we seem to have lost the idea of a rite of passage. There is no traditional/symbolic way for an individual to discover himself or come into his own anymore, and I would argue from a personal standpoint that some kind of rite of passage, a symbolic "growing into one's self" would probably have done me a world of good.

One day, I hope to throw off the chains society has imposed on me and fully decide for myself what is truly of worth and value.

We walk the trail,
Crossing over a bridge,
When we saw the beauty that we could be.