I caught him stealing my bike

I biked to the coffee shop this morning to get some work done as I typically do, except this time, I forgot my bike lock.  I was too lazy to bike back home to get it so I devised a plan to discreetly lay it against a bike rack in front of the coffee shop where I could keep watch while working.

After four hours of uneventful bike security monitoring, I caught a glimpse of an opportunistic bike thief in the corner of my eye as he grabbed my bike and rolled it out of the rack.  As if he could feel my surprised gaze, he raised his head just as I noticed him and our eyes connected.  He froze and nonchalantly motioned to the bike with his hand and then to me asking if it was mine.  I nodded, not knowing what to expect.  He proceeded to roll the bike back into its rack and went on his way like nothing ever happened.

Why did he do this?  Why didn’t he just run off with the bike?

Maybe he didn’t believe he was a thief because only a bike thief would steal a bike in the face of its owner.  Maybe he thought he was doing a public service by decluttering the streets of unclaimed bikes.  Maybe he thought taking unlocked bikes were a necessary evil so he could finance his next meal but only if there was no clear owner present.

I don’t know what the answer is.  But I do know that over the course of a couple seconds of our nonverbal encounter, I caught a glimpse of one of the universal stories we all tell ourselves.

Each of us has our virtues and vices that make up the story we tell about who we are.  The interesting thing is not the individual virtues and vices.  The interesting part is how they interplay with one another, how one virtue dispels one vice, how some virtues are emphasized and some vices disregarded.

Because at the end of the day, our virtues always shine brighter.  We all tell ourselves we are the good guys.  From the virtuous vigilantes to the most corrupt cops, we all believe we are the good guys.  No one wakes up in the morning and gets excited about being an evil villain.  We are all the heroes of our own story.  And there’s always a line between good and evil we won’t cross, because if we did, we would have to change our story.

Bring it on

When tragedy bleeds onto the tranquil painting of our minds,

Bring it on.

When the stealthy pounce on my unsuspecting fortress,

Bring it on.

When acidity corrodes the innocent taste in my mouth,

Bring it on.

When the unrelenting strikes from behind the moon’s shadow,

Bring it on.

You caught me off guard again.

But its nothing I haven’t dealt with before.

Like the last time I cast you into the shadows.

Bring it on, and more.

A hero to save your life

A hero is not only the supernatural characters that we idolize on the big screen.  These stories only represent the archetypical hero figure in our society, revealing to us the invisible qualities of the hero through his visible supernatural abilities.

Don’t be fooled by the fancy powers and lofty ranks of superheroes.  The heroine’s story is less about her external success and much more about her supernatural internal qualities.  And each of us are capable of being the hero and heroine of our own stories.

The hero chooses courage over fear and patience over temptation.  The heroine chooses forgiveness over hatred and truth over deceit.

We are not called to fight the forces of evil and save the world.  We are called to fight the forces of evil to save our lives.  And by saving ourselves, we save the world.

The heroine of our story lives with us alone.  Nobody else can bestow that claim on us.  Only we can make the choice to be a hero, every single day.

The battle for your life one day at a time

The battle for your life maybe not resemble the epics but do not be fooled, they are just as epic.  The battle for your life is no less scary, real, brave, noble, and no less important for your survival.  Temptation arrives at your doorsteps every morning and the battle for your life begins whether you feel like it or not.

No one can understand the battles you face, the ruthless ones you have faced in the past.  No one can fight your battles for you.  These are your battles.  These are your battles that you summon all your forces to wrestle each day because only you will understand the visceral turmoil of defeat and the gallant glory of victory.

All you can do is fight temptation when you are called to battle.  There is no guarantee that you will win the war, only that you are given the opportunity to fight the battle for your life, one day at a time.

 

 

Transcendent Myth

Glorified story
Grand mythology
Idyllic world
Godly heroes

We choose you
A reality to believe in
Give us meaning
An ideal to aspire to

Start at Zero

Today we start at zero
Like everyday
Another chance to be my own hero
My favourite day

The past has made its mind
And wont be convinced
The future waiting to be made
Starting today, repeat and rinse

Rules of the game

I used to be a video game junkie growing up.  I was thrown into escapism at its best.  There are certain rules and a limited set of controls, and that’s what makes them fun.  But this also makes them measurable, score-able, and comparable…the cause of most of our anxieties in life.  I realized this was only one way to play games.

The difference in the game of life, is that there is not just one high-score list, there are an infinite number of them.  There are an infinite number of ways to play the game.  We are not just the protagonist of the game, we are also the writer, developer and producer for our game.

So in the game of life, I might want to ask what am I keeping score of?  I might want to abandon the perfectionist mindset that I had playing video games.  I might want to leave the self-manufactured hero mindset that brought me so much success.  I might think about asking for help when I’m stuck because living in vain is not what I’m keeping score of.  Because in the game of life, I’m not playing by someone else’s rules, I’m playing by my own rules.

 

The Right Thing

What the heck is the right thing?
Is my right thing the right thing?
Is it the same as your right thing?

I’m as clueless as you
All I know is this, the right thing
Is usually the harder thing
Is usually the thing I’m afraid of

 And that’s when I know
I need to do the right thing
Because I can hide it from
My mind, but not my soul

 The monster only grows
As a constant reminder
Of the hero I could be
Of the villain I chose to be

The Journey Home

My soul squeezed
My motivation drained
My drive emptied
I had to leave

Blocking it all out
I numbed the pain
Defence mechanism on
I would not get hurt

Many years passed
And what was grey then
Is beaming red now
Its time to unveil

Its time to come home
With old wisdom
Its time to battle fears
With new eyes

Reptilian Desires and Imperfect Heroes

I love passively indulging in our reptilian desire for Hollywood blockbuster action flicks as much as the next person.  But I’ve always felt that good entertainment also leaves a little for the imagination.

A hero that is imperfect and grows throughout the films challenges to examine our personal expectations for their actions.  A villain that shows elements of compassion forces us to break the lazy mold of black and white bookkeeping, to use our imagination instead to enhance the experience.