Casual Friday

Change is Inevitable

Life for David was living in the repeat of Groundhog Day, or in the words of Maxi Jazz, he was contained in the hum between voice and drum. This morning before opening his eyes he hoped for something more in his fleeting unconscious moment. He fought the smell of the coffee in case this day would be the same as all the others. With eyes wide shut David pulled up his knees, rolled to the edge of the bed and got out from underneath the duvet. As the last piece of his body left the bed he opened his eyes in anticipation of something new. Anything would do. Just one glitch in the matrix would give him the energy he needed to believe in something more.

The undercurrent took the feet from under him as the door opened, pulling him into the ocean of veiled faces in the subway train. Like a masked ball the people paraded behind their magazines and newspapers. He scanned the headlines and pictures grasping for today's hope. Money and success, education and power, sex and happiness were the wisdom for the day, the meditation of the moment and the ingredients of a well baked life. The carriage stopped, the people got out and history repeated itself once again.

As David drifted with the tide a strange voice entered his head and said "STOP". He had never thought that this could be a possibility; he had never considered that this was an option. As the voice of reason resonated between his ears he lifted his head and discovered his balance. He planted his feet on the ground and paused. The people rushed by and the clock spun endlessly as David waited for a new moment. The longer he stood the longer his perspective changed. He began to think differently and to believe for something more than the vain pursuit of the masses. He turned around and faced the flow; he slipped the pack off his back and unbuttoned his Jacket. As the jacket dropped to the ground David began to run. The crowd parted like the Red Sea as he picked up the pace. His muscles tingled with every intake of breath and the thrill of the injected bloodstream egged him on for more. The harder he pushed the more alive he felt. The superhuman speed carried him until everything blurred like advertisements in the subway. Before he knew it he was on the far side of suburbia and skipping between trees on his way up the mountainside. The salt of his sweating brow brought the needed flavour to break the tree-line and scamper the crux of the day. The smell of moss and the feel of crisp air caught the attention of the hairs on his skin. Every piece of him was alive like never before. He ran but did not grow weary; he walked and was not faint. As he stood on the peak he saw the world before him with different eyes. He felt like he could fly, conquer and be free. He had broken through to the other side. He began to believe that he had been made for great things. This is the sound of inevitability.

posted by Mark Dowds @ Sunday, January 09, 2005