Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Some people say life is like a journey
Where birth is the start and death is the finish
But I don’t really believe that
I believe life, is more like packing a suitcase-
-for the journey in which you become happy with who you are
So, when you are born you obtain a suitcase,
or rather when you reach the stage in development
when you begin to like certain things better than others,
usually when you learn the word mine.
So, you’ve got this suitcase right?
Now what?
Well, you fill your suitcase with things that make you happy
And the things that make you happy often change
So, you used to like dandelions but now your new thing is snails
Well you just took the dandelions out of your suitcase and filled it to the top with snails
That’s who you are now;
someone who prefers slimy invertebrates over invasive flowers
All your life as you grow and change
You are constantly packing, and unpacking you suitcase
Because who you are isn’t just a cloud of inspiration
that one day you will accidentally walk into
on your way to the grocery store and
suddenly you’ve become the person you’ve always wanted to be.
I don’t think that’s the way it works
I think it’s more that,
Often people go through life not paying any particular attention to the little choices that they make,
The fact that they prefer broccoli over Brussels sprouts
because Brussels sprouts are disgusting no matter what way they are cooked.
They don’t really think about how they would have never learned how to draw
if they had given up when their 2nd grade class mate threw their crayon rainbow
into the recycling bin.
But every little detail about the way you look, think
the way you talk, what you enjoy, the way you write your lowercase a’s
All of these things are packed into your suitcase
And the people that walk around
Unaware that they don’t need to FIND themselves-
People like Harold the Mailman that has gotten frostbite in his left toe 17 times
Has a suitcase full of wonderful, wonderful Harold
Some days these people will think to open their suitcases
and realize they have been amazing people all of their lives
One morning you might wake up and say,
“look!”
“I am the person I have always dreamed of being”
“I was me, all along”
Your story never ends and neither do the plot twists
You have a blank cassette tape that you rewind and record over,
time and time again
And you have a suitcase, just waiting for you to peek inside