Distractions, Divisions



A REFLECTION ON SEASON 5 OF GAME OF THRONES

Image result for season 5 game of thronesWe humans are stupid. We squabble over things we feel is of vital importance: power, pride, property, loyalty. Granted, individually these things can be seen as sacred, but when they distract and divide us, what good are they? They are nothing more than pillars of ash we struggle to hold on to.

Institutions meant to uplift us can in their most radical forms harm us. Religion and economics, for example, can be uniting forces or they can destroy us from the inside out, until forces beyond our control decide our fate when it is too late to realize our faults.

We fight wars amongst ourselves, pitting ourselves against one another for the most ridiculous of reasons: where and how one was raised, occupations, ideologies, whom we choose to love. We create value systems for who we feel is worthy and worth saving, condemning, ostracizing, uniting. Someone steals our toys, and we're plotting revenge before we are even certain we know who and why they did it.

And all the while, the few among us, not wanting to carry the burden of knowing, know the greater enemy forces that lie in wait, gritting their palms for when we are at our weakness. We waste so much time and energy forcing each other on opposing sides when in reality, in every situation, we are always on the same team. We all want the same thing in the end, even if we disagree on the means of getting there. And when those individuals rise to the top and make us aware of the truth, they're usually the first to be sacrificed, a knife in the heart whether figuratively or literally. And then we complain why things never change for the better.


~Michael DeNobile

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