Napoleon in rags

You've probably heard the saying "a man suffers more in imagination than in reality". It's an apt saying.

We're all living in our minds, confined by our thoughts, our bleak imaginations, far from the realities of life. We're living in an alternate reality where we've been forced to believe certain things. Is it a simulation? Maybe. Is it the infamous 'matrix' that Strickland keeps talking about? Perhaps. But again, we as humans have been advocates of objectivity where we believe in science, in evidence.

But when we talk about objectivity, are we saying A=B, B=C then A=C. Yes, we are. By that formula, we were brought up from a young age being taught that hard work yields success. Is that true? Does hard work really bring success? All of us were reciting that mantra until some bright bulb came along and told us we were doing it all wrong. It wasn't hard work which would bring success, it was smart work. You weren't supposed to work hard, you were supposed to work smart.

A man who wakes up at 5am because he has to travel an hour to lay bricks in a rich man's backyard believes he's working hard. And he is. On the other hand, there's a rich man with a government job who sits in his office, takes his lunch and tea breaks and signs only 3 out of 5 documents. He works smart? No. He represents everything that a man doesn't.

You were made to believe that working 8-hour shifts for the rest of your life was going to help you get bread on your table. But soon, you realised that wasn't working. So, your wife started working 8-hour shifts too. All the while, the rotten schooling system said 'hey, don't worry, we'll raise your child and he'll be a good Samaritan and he'll pay his taxes on time and he'll look both sides before crossing the road.'

You come home to see your child being raised by social media while being inculcated with problematic, erroneous, eccentric ideas.

You then realise that you were paying your taxes, paying your dues just to see your child losing his identity. Losing the ability of becoming a free-thinking soul. Instead, your child was falling victim to the same system you fell victim to.

You then think of the abuses you're taking at your work place where your supervisor doesn't pay you on time, for what? Only for your tax money to be used to serve medium well beef steaks to kids of the rich? Maybe this is what the matrix is.

Let's not even talk about your fast-paced lifestyle where you're forced to eat unhealthy due to paucity of time. By the time you reach 40, you feel your heart not doing its best pumping blood. Or on the flip side, putting in a little too much effort pumping blood.

Yet, you continue to consume substandard drinks and cold coffees from organisations that couldn't care less about your physical well-being.

No wonder fast food is cheap and gym memberships are expensive. They don't want you to be healthy. They want you to pay for health care instead. They don't want you to see your child grow up and be what you wanted to be but you couldn't be because you believed sitting in front of a screen would get you your dough.

On their deathbeds, I assure you, no one is going to say that they want to see their gold medal or they want to see their bank account. On their death bed, they're going to say they want to see their loved ones.

Relationships, honesty, kindness, a good heart and good health are what will matter in the long run. Yes, you need money to eat. Keep it at that only. Don't let it hinder you from being the man you need to be.

Be a mentor, a guide, a teacher, an intellectual. A razor blade, if someone gets too close.