Stop Running

You wake up in the morning, you put on your pants, and you look in the mirror. What do you see?

When you look do you see a proud American? Perhaps a god fearing "good" christian? A handsome man? A pretty woman? A Great musician?

Do you see anything? Do you just revert your eyes? Do you ever really look at yourself?

Yesterday, I went to the New Years Day Mummer's day parade in Philadelphia. Quite the spectacle, indeed. A celebration of epic proportions. The parade consists of the Irish and Italian districts of South Philadelphia getting together to play music and get ridiculously drunk. Most of the people involved are union member laborers from the area. The entire time I was watching the show, I couldn't help but wonder...do these people really know who they are?

All year, these people keep their unholy relationship with the government at all time highs, ensuring that they have a nice salary and avoid getting fired. The work ethic around the city thus diminishes, people struggle to find jobs, and everyone pays higher taxes. What happens when they people look in the mirror? Do they see that they use government violence to achieve their ends? Do they understand that if I refuse to pay their salaries I will be shot? Do they know that their actions make life even more difficult for those who struggle to find jobs? No...instead they look in the mirror and say "I'm standing up for the good and virtuous". In other words, when they look in the mirror, they don't see themselves, they see a lie.

Yet, everyday the unconscious of the dishonorable man eats away at his soul, reminding him that he is not virtuous, but in fact a coward who is unwilling to look the truth in the face. What does he do to hide this feeling? Well, he gets together with other dishonorable people, and he drugs himself. Everyone at the parade was absolutely black out drunk, and the reason is fairly clear...they were trying to run away. They were trying to run away from the mirror that will show them the truth, but they are running through a room of mirrors with no escape.

There is only one solution.

Stop running.