On Building Walls or What good will that do?

“It is the East and Juliet is the West!” followed by “Juliet is the Sky and I am the Sun!”

Nature Theater of Oklahoma, “Romeo and Juliet”

Seriously. Vulnerability.

What does it mean to live your life full on? To breathe so deeply that you get dizzy? Look at the Sun right between it’s eyes? Swim naked in the wildest of the oceans?

What does it mean to be free?

Freedom is my next question.

What does it mean to be free?

Back in school I was made to read books. I was made to read books from the list of literature that was considered appropriate. I had no problem with “Anna Karenina” or “Romeo and Juliet”. But there were so many books that would just make me go dull. Books that were obligatory and I just had to go through them. I felt so sad when I had to spend time on reading books that didn’t make me interested, I would feel like I was not picking anything up. Not a single word. No emotion, image or idea.

Then there were subjects like physics. It was not physics itself that was the problem. It was the endless hours I would have to spend sitting in a classroom full of people talking, the poor teacher trying to be louder and get some order in the room.

And then there were sentences like “You are too young to understand that”. This one is still very painfull for I tend to be the youngest in the group.

The day I graduated from high school (it was middle of the summer, a year before my generation would go through the same process) I took my diploma and took the tram home. I showed the diploma to my parents and got kissed by both of them. Then I asked if they would let me celebrate which they gladely accepted. They were very surprised when I picked some books from the shelfs, went to my bedroom and spent 3 days eating and reading whatever I wanted to read!

And at that moment I felt free. I felt so free. Because I was the one making my own decisions. I was making decisions on who’s thoughts were entering my head, on what form I was reading and who the characters were.

The part about making decisions I love the most is that I am the one taking all the responsibility. I am the one who will be influenced by my decision – and it will be good or it will be not so good – in any case I can say I did it and I can take “the blame” – for both, good or bad.

After making the decision it usually goes good and this good is the best GOOD in the world because you, or in this case, I – made it happen.

And then the questions came – How will you do that? Isn’t it hard? What if it goes wrong? But that’s so far from here? Wouldn’t you prefer to do something else?

Which leads me to the question of protection of the person asking the question...