I've been thinking a lot...as is common for someone who should probably be diagnosed as OCD, ADHD, and a numerous other disorders that don't allow my mind to escape for any reasonable amount of time. I'm constantly looking for a deeper meaning in everything. Movies. Television. Literature. Conversation. Artwork. Spirituality. Life in general. I want more. I need to tap into something that offers more fulfillment...more satisfaction...more purpose than what I've been told life is. And I am not alone. There are so many of us that are part of this same search. We are feverishly tearing through our lives, kicking doors open, overturning the system we don't believe works. We are fighting for our lives. The lives we believe are suppose to be more fulfilling than all that we've been spoon-fed thus far. We are sick of life...pointless, shallow, meaningless life. We want more. We are demanding more.

But we must not forget. We are not different from anyone else who was our age once. Everyone has lived through this search. It does not matter who you are, where you come from, what you believe...the search is not exclusionary. It holds no regard to gender, skin color, sexual orientation, religious belief, economic status. It is an aggressive virus that moves flawlessly through the blood stream of humanity. Especially in America, one can trace the revolution of better living from the founding fathers...and as you keep tracing that line it will extend back further and further until you reach the dawn of time. It started at the beginning of time. (Now, this is based upon a particular belief about the conception of human life and their particular interaction with a particular way of life...but regardless of that worldview the simple fact is that if an individual were to honestly look at history they would see the same theme reoccurring...people revolt when the system fails.) There has always been an inherent sense from humanity that life can be more...and when they are told it can't they will eventually rise up and fight for it.

This is most common in a generation of youthfulness. Young people who cannot swallow the big fucking pill of conformity. At least not when somewhere deep in their bones...in the absolute furthest point of their being they know that conformity does not bring liberty. It is youth that are more aware of it. It starts at birth. The violent slap in the face a child feels as their eyes begin to develop and take in something so powerful...color. The sensations of hearing for the first time the commotion of noise as the ears invite in the dialogue around them. The awareness of touch as they are pulled from the womb, bloody, slimy, and noisy, held in the hands of their hosts and introduced to humanity. I mean, seriously people...the greatest most intense pastime of a child is to ask questions. To discover...which leads to more questions...which leads to discovery...which leads to more questions...which leads to more discovery...and it just keeps going. The question "why?" has got to be the most genius form of debate ever. As soon as your opponent places the final period behind their last word, of their last sentence, the single most annoying response is to ask "WHY?" It is because why cannot never be answered with just because...well...it can...but that is not satisfactory. At least generally not to a child.

UNLESS...
Conformity is demanded. Acceptance is required. The choice to ask why is denied. Which happens all to often. The child is told to just accept that black and white are more colorful than the rainbow. That black and white is enough to paint with. But in this is the explanation to revolution. The arrogance of intolerance, the ego of close-mindedness fuels the fury of angst. Because the powers that be refuse to answer the question. They refuse to listen...and eventually the populace with rise against this oppression. They will link arms stand in the face of adversity and wait to be run down. We have seen it happen...over and over again.

Now an observation about revolution. There are two outcomes. A winning outcome. A losing outcome. I'm not aware of any real neutrality in revolution. You either achieve victory or you find yourself staring defeat right in the face. Both of these take different forms. Some are instantaneous...the victor immediately acquires the power to begin living in whatever worldview they promote. The loser than must yield to this power...conformity...or is subsequently dead. The loser of a revolution is confronted with the reality of their weakness...the flaws...the kinks in their armor which led to their demise. Other victories take place over long periods of time...often times finding their power in the subversive movement of its followers. The combatants use time as their weapon...slowly but surely promoting propaganda until one day the physical battle is brought to the surface. They buy time allowing the current system to continue failing, until the moment to walk from the shadows arrives and suddenly the streets are filled with people who are fed up with the negativity of a dying breed of thinking or living or just existing.

But there is a cycle here. The winners of a revolution will always find themselves one day looking in the mirror and realizing that they are now the enemy they once fought. It is inevitable. Their system of thinking may not have changed in any principle. The problem is that it no longer works for the rising masses that are beginning to churn like the sea as it prepares to violently strike the land in a tremendous storm of revolt. Any system goes through this cycle. It is going to happen. Seriously. Any system of thought or worldview that once promoted something new or contrary to popular thought eventually found themselves the new target of a new breed of revolutionaries. Any individual can see it in anything. Religion. Politics. Economics. Society. Culture. It is a static variable that is a common thread in all of humanity. Especially youth.

I think this is why the cycle happens though. Youth grow up. They stop asking why. Eventually somewhere along the line the youth are no longer youth. They are scholars. Grown-ups. People who lived through the questions of why, overthrew the system, came out on top, and now want to explain everything for the coming generations. And it works for a time. The pressure of conformity will succeed for any given amount of time...until a moment when suddenly leaders rise up and begin to draw followers. But eventually these leaders and followers get old...and they are then the ones in control and they need to keep control. So they the question why is dangerous...and it can't be asked. Because eventually you can't explain the answer...and the only natural response of the inquirer is this..."WHY??? I thought you had the answers! Why can't your system answer the question???"

To be entirely honest, my generation is revolting. More than ever before. You see it in everything. There are powers attempting to keep control...to enforce conformity. But the walls are cracking. The consistent pounding of fists against the bricks, may have drawn blood and broken knuckles and hands...but eventually this fortress of oppression and conformity is going to crumble and standing on the rubble will be a new generation of warriors...of revolutionaries. When the dust settles the old system will be done away with and a new one will need to be established. And that is the point of this new writing series..."Fueling The Fury." It is an exploration into the minds and hearts and souls and lives of a generation of people who are sick and tired of conformity and oppression and the effects this revolution on our opponents and our allies and comrades.

This is going to question whether we are winning or losing...what happens if we win...what happens if we lose...where do we go when the revolution is finished...what do we do when the dust has settled...are we going to die and another generation has to take our place at the wall and keep hitting...are we fighting for something worth dying for...are we willing to die for it...why are we even revolting. Now some answers may be easier to answer than others. Other times there may not be an answer...and then we need to remember with each new answer to ask this question..."Why?"

We are fighting...like it or not. It is long past due for us to know why we are fighting and what we are fighting for.

much love.