We have a long way to go, our society, this is often very easy to see. We have come along way, our society, this is often very difficult to see.
I think this is difficult because we look out there instead of inside ourselves for progress. Sitting there in the upper balcony of Toronto's prestigious Elgin Theatre before the movie I gazed momentarily at the crowd while most of my group had gone to buy overpriced water. Gazing out at the empty and likely unused reserved sections, and at the tired feet of the volunteers whom have stood for hours tirelessly at our service to receive a very tired applause from the crowd (once prompted to show our appreciation, of course, by a sponsored ad), I saw only classism, only pretense, separation of wealth and other bourgeois delights. But looking inwards, taking a step back from myself to gaze within our booth I saw just the opposite. 2 Jamaican guys, 2 Italians and a Portuguese sharing a balcony that previously would have been reserved for classism was freely occupied by us. In our groups of man and woman, old and young, employed and jobless, we are divided by no lines, separated by no differences. We are free in ways those before us could only dream, and free because they dared to.
But of which freedoms will we dare to dream, and for which will we strive? We're still talking about progress, just as before. If we look for freedoms elsewhere we are likely to find only barriers, but if we look within ourselves we will know what changes can be made. In fact, I should make the effort to stop using the word we. 'We' is such a presumptuous word. Far be it from me to assume that my hardships are your hardships, or that my life lessons will be ours. I've spent enough time in a corporate leadership position to know that if an idea is truly good enough to be used in a person's life they will steal it. In fact, people prefer it; to take an idea, augment it and make it their own. Patent law exists for a reason. The true valuation of an idea is its propensity for the theft. So, I will speak only of what I think will work for me, possessing my ideas as my own. And if you visit me ever to find my ideas presented with open doors, fear not, the keys are in the ignition, you just have to turn them. Take them wherever you please, to the bank, to your job, to your spouse. I left them unlocked for you. I'm somewhere else now, picking the locks off new ideas for myself, finding out which freedoms yet unseen are out there and worth daring for.
"Can you live without her? If you can, then cut her loose now before you even think about marrying her."
I think this is difficult because we look out there instead of inside ourselves for progress. Sitting there in the upper balcony of Toronto's prestigious Elgin Theatre before the movie I gazed momentarily at the crowd while most of my group had gone to buy overpriced water. Gazing out at the empty and likely unused reserved sections, and at the tired feet of the volunteers whom have stood for hours tirelessly at our service to receive a very tired applause from the crowd (once prompted to show our appreciation, of course, by a sponsored ad), I saw only classism, only pretense, separation of wealth and other bourgeois delights. But looking inwards, taking a step back from myself to gaze within our booth I saw just the opposite. 2 Jamaican guys, 2 Italians and a Portuguese sharing a balcony that previously would have been reserved for classism was freely occupied by us. In our groups of man and woman, old and young, employed and jobless, we are divided by no lines, separated by no differences. We are free in ways those before us could only dream, and free because they dared to.
But of which freedoms will we dare to dream, and for which will we strive? We're still talking about progress, just as before. If we look for freedoms elsewhere we are likely to find only barriers, but if we look within ourselves we will know what changes can be made. In fact, I should make the effort to stop using the word we. 'We' is such a presumptuous word. Far be it from me to assume that my hardships are your hardships, or that my life lessons will be ours. I've spent enough time in a corporate leadership position to know that if an idea is truly good enough to be used in a person's life they will steal it. In fact, people prefer it; to take an idea, augment it and make it their own. Patent law exists for a reason. The true valuation of an idea is its propensity for the theft. So, I will speak only of what I think will work for me, possessing my ideas as my own. And if you visit me ever to find my ideas presented with open doors, fear not, the keys are in the ignition, you just have to turn them. Take them wherever you please, to the bank, to your job, to your spouse. I left them unlocked for you. I'm somewhere else now, picking the locks off new ideas for myself, finding out which freedoms yet unseen are out there and worth daring for.
"Can you live without her? If you can, then cut her loose now before you even think about marrying her."
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