Sunday, October 3, 2010

Sentenced to Life

I was born. Quite simply at the beginning of my life I had nothing, no dreams, no expectations, I was too young to know hate, love, passion or pain. In the first few seconds of my life, before I even knew the sound of my own name, there was a definite naivety to my life; I knew nothing and expected nothing, my unformed mind took more interest in sounds I could not comprehend and shapes that were undefined. My life began and in the fashion of so many great men before me; I cried when I realized how truly terrifying this world is.
At seconds old, without my consent knowledge or opinion, I was named. That name would stay with me until the end of time. It would be printed on my birth certificate, my high school diploma, and every paycheck I would ever earn. So in hindsight, I consider it incredibly unfair that I was not allowed to choose my own name. And so it was that I would carry a name of another’s choosing, in a life that was to be lived in a manner of my choosing.
In my life I would witness things I would never and could never understand. I would watch the fears of a few men dictate the lives of many, the choices of fools outweighing the minds of experienced men, and the power that something as irrational as emotions inspire things in men and women of true beauty and substance. My life would be long enough for me to live, and even at seconds old I would be in the fullest of my sense on my own to achieve what I would in life.
Though too young to grasp any concept of a legal system, I was suddenly bound by one of the greatest punishments that has ever existed. Being sentenced to life means that for the remainder of an individual’s life, they will remain incarcerated in a prison of some form until the moment that their heart stops beating. As my heart was now beating, I was forced to accept that I was imprisoned on this world, and would be until the moment that it came to an end. I would be sentenced to life in the fact that I would be forced to create my own life, build my own future, and be my own man. And so I start my life, come what may, I have started it, and I will finish it; I am sentenced to life.

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