Imaginary Barriers...

We are victims of our our own imaginary barriers. Romanticized barriers. We speak of the "old times" as if it was some fairy tale world. Filled with heroes and strength. Filled with unreachable and unattainable goals and characteristics. Our ancestors were survivors. They were wise and patient. They were happy and content with life. Unlike us.

Unlike the transition generation. We are children of two worlds. Two worlds? Two worlds like oil and water. They can never mix. Polar opposites. Matter and antimatter. Apples and Salmonberries. Grey and Ivory white. Somewhere, someone drew a line separating the honorable and the lost. And we ended up on the Losing End. We tell ourselves we can never be great. We swallow and feed ourselves quotes and photos from a bygone era like glass filled pills. We imagine our parents and grandparents, and great grandparents frowning down upon us in disapproval. We compare our deeds with theirs and find our efforts wanting. Most of us give up. Most of us accept the we are not worth quoting. Most of us decide to leave the battle to others to fight. Leave the knowledge for others to know. Leave the pride for others to feel. We judge ourselves too weak and too small to know greatness.

We are children of two worlds. We split our souls down the middle, a fissure filled with pain and red burning alcohol. We accept this bi-existance as Truth.

Who exactly told us that it was truth? Who decided that the two worlds could not exist in one soul? I find it interesting that no one questioned this decree. That we as a people agreed that anyone born after a certain date would only be half real. Would only be half a person.

By accepting it, we have made it real. We split ourselves. We hurt ourselves. We separated our being and created imaginary barriers. We are not children of two worlds. We are children of THIS world.

We forget that our ancestors did not live in a static world. They did not live in a bubble. They encountered new ideas, they encountered new technology, they encountered new people, they encountered new problems just like every generation before them. They struggled to survive intact in a world filled with snowstorms and dangers just like we do today. Except today those storms have different names, like Suicide, and Cancer. Like Meth and Money. Like Education and Racism. Our storms are just as dangerous, maybe more so because we have handicapped ourselves with these imaginary barriers.

We are just as great as our blood line will always be. We are just as smart. We are just as brave. We have always been.