Study Blog

This malleable life

By Evans, April 04, 2020

I don’t know about you, but for the longest time, I thought that my name was going to be in some hall of fame, even if it was just a footnote. I figured that somehow, life would recognize the great talents I had and create a path for me to succeed.

Before you judge me lazy, I should mention that I did know hard work would be an essential part of the process. I am not afraid to wake up early; in fact, I particularly love the cold and snippy air of mornings following a wet night. I rather enjoy late nights as well; nothing beats closing your eyes to sleep after a staying up late to mark off all items off the list of your day’s goals.

Still, I imagined that life would take me to the path of household names; Nelson Mandela if I ever decided to pursue politics. Heck, I would take a council seat at the local government. My name would be alongside Wole Soyinka if I decided that words were my path; Seth Rogen if I could expand my imagination just a little bit.

I would have to work hard, but my talents would play a big role in defining who I would be in the future.

Recently, I started rethinking my obviously egotistical (though I prefer the word confident) beliefs in myself.

The occurrence that necessitated this was pretty innocent; I was bored, and so I decided to binge the first season of Rick and Morty. This wasn’t the first time I was watching it; I was craving some of the life lessons wrapped in absolute madness that the show constantly dishes out. Actually, I lie; I just wanted to see those inter-dimensional creatures.

In a typical episode, Rick introduces the family to inter-dimensional television and this somehow ends up in Summer finding out that she was a prom-night unexpected baby who could be the reason for her parent’s unhappiness and mediocrity. Morty, like the good brother he is, proceeds to comfort his sister during which he says;

“Nobody exists on purpose; nobody belongs anywhere; everybody’s gonna die”

The world doesn’t owe me anything because I do not exist for a purpose that was specified for me. I could die tomorrow and in five decades, it will be like I never existed at all on this earth. You don’t belong anywhere; you and I are each a product of the circumstances we were presented, and the choices we made with after making an assessment in the situations we were in.

You are not special.

Gloomy, right?

This seemingly depressive statement by this animated teenager is also a statement of freedom.

Freedom from the idea that our lives were meant to follow a certain path. Freedom from the expectations that we set for ourselves, whether they are too high or too low.

Freedom to mold ourselves into anything we want to be.

Free will, right?