The great walls of life...

While I write this I am extremely irritated, pissed off, angry and just about any other synonym you can think of..I am irritated about our ways of lives in India and just about anywhere in the world..our way of building boundaries around ourselves and others.From the time we are born, we are given boundaries...we are given a name, a religion, a caste and even a bloody subcaste. We are given a god to pray, a bunch of good-for-nothing relatives called family and even given a rule book on how to lead an ideal life. From an open and free world that you are born into, by
the time you reach your senses, you are given this small space in which you 'should' live, earn, pray, be satisfied and finally die.

Some may argue that all the boundaries form our identity but today I call it robbery of our freedom of choice. All is well until the day you try to break a boundary when all hell's gonna break loose. All your good-for-nothing relatives and just about anybody in the boundary will jump up and down with their fingers up their .. well..we all think differently man...I believe its natural for everyone to want to break a boundary or two as they learn more about themselves and the world. When I think about it, I am not irritated about the boundaries as such; they are nothing but an average of all the ideal ways of leading a life...what I do not like is the lack of freedom to deviate from the average. Why are people so afraid to break their boundaries? Is this not how progress happens...why are people happy to stick to the 'rules' set down by others? why don't we let our children make their decisions and choose the life they want? Why?

One reason that stands out for me is the fear of losing. This is the single most dominant reason why people cannot and will not allow to break boundries.Fear of losing family, fear of losing money, fear of losing social respect, the list is endless. The fear of breaking away from the rules to tread into unknown waters takes a lot of will which most people lack. I can't blame them though but have to blame their upbrining. As a kid, you are always told to not do things rather than try and experience things. You are told not to jump, not to go near water, not to touch the dog, not to run, not to blah bhah blah...the result, fear becomes a part of your DNA.

Humans are primarily community animals and not independant creatures. We need communities to survive. We need constant human interaction to lead our lives.Community by definition is group of people driven by a common purpose towards a common goal. The boundaries unfortunately are the default communities you are assigned to when you are born. Smaller the community higher the security and a sense of belonging and hence higher the number of boundaries. So, we need boundaries then. But, the default boundaries cannot completely provide what it promises, a purpose, a goal and a sense of belonging. These can be obtained
only when you break the default boundaries and build your own boundaries; go out and find communities in whose purpose you truly belive in, in whose goals you want to reach and in whose people you feel a sense of belonging; go out and create your own communities that people want to use as their boundaries.

What I want atleast our generation and the generations to come is to gather the will and strength to break away unrealistic smaller boundaries and create broader communities with a higher purpose. Do not be afraid to take risks in finding your communities or creating new ones. Do not have the fear of
losing...in life sometimes you are ahead, sometimes you are not..in the end, the race is with yourself. Don't be judgemental, accept differences and lead a fuller life.

I feel better having thrown my thoughts out but quite frankly I am not sure what I was getting at. All I know and understand is that default boundaries have started to suffocate me a bit.