Freestyle. Free flow. Freedom. Freedom. Freedom is driving down a country road with no idea where you're headed. Freedom is also growing up privileged and spoiled. Freedom can lead to guilt - irrational guilt. You hear other people's stories and they rip a hole through you. The things they survived and came through make you want to stand at attention and salute them. You think, what have I endured that can help me relate, help me empathize? The answer is nothing, so you nod and pat their back and sound patronizing. So there's that. Guilt's a funny thing. It's a waste of an emotion or maybe it's what instills morality. Apparently some human beings don't experience guilt and they are called sociopaths. Now that's some scary shit. Convicts, murderers hustlers. For those who aren't sociopaths, why repeat the same mistakes? Is it a need for punishment? Lack of intelligence? Selfishness? Yes, no, maybe so.
Freestyle. Skating. Nancy Kerrigan. In 1994, Tonya Harding had someone attack Kerrigan in order to win. Coward. Crazy girl. Monster. What becomes of these cowardly monsters, ostracized by the media and society? Maybe they stay home and drink to forget. Maybe they find Jesus. Maybe they edit their wikipedia page. Maybe they turn their evil to good and helps others. Do they walk with their shoulders hunched, ashamed and victim-like? Or do they walk tall and unafraid, with the knowledge that the worst has already happened to them and the rest is uphill. Does Tonya still skate? Does Nancy? I hope so. I hope they both do.
Freestyle. Style and freedom. Burqas are said by some to be neither. What about the woman who wears one proudly and of her own volition? That is freedom too. Freedom to express her devotion and don her faith. Freedom comes in many different forms. Maybe the cage bird wants to be caged because it's familiar and it doesn't know how to fly. Maybe the bird finds solace in the familiar. There's a quote about a camel that goes something like, "Don't free the camel from the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel." That kinda sums it up.
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