Debt

God owes me nothing...not another breath, not another second on this Earth. I am not the chosen one, or a man entitled to all my heart desires. I am nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact, neither are you...are any of us. We are owed nothing...not from God, from our parents or from anyone else we may have a relationship with. Be it your job, your school, your family...friends...even your country. I and we are owed nothing. There are no true entitlements...not really. Most people however, to include myself, never believed this to be true. I am owed something...I have always thought. Something should be given to me for my effort, for my trouble, for my mere existence. But I was wrong.

You see, inevitably, it is I who owe...and you as well. Life was not provided so that we could just look out for ourselves. I mean, the essence of humanity...the reason we were blessed with logic and reason is arguably to make better that which we were born into. If you truly believe in a higher power, and for the moment I give him or her no name, just the Creator, than you were in turn created for what purpose...individual gain? I, in my most modest attempt, say no. You were created, as I, for some higher purpose. I mean it is so easy to look at messiahs and prophets in every religion, and truly believe that they lived for God and for the betterment of man. So why only them...and not us all?

We revere all those, throughout history who have sacrificed themselves for the progression and betterment of mankind but at the same time the majority of us shy away from any attempt to do the same. Too busy, not my problem, no time, who would listen to me, I dont have an opinion, what would people think...what would people think if I stood up for what I believed, what would people think if I protested against all that is unjust and discriminatory, what would people think if I spoke out against that which is wrong...what would people say? What would the Creator say if you did not?

It must be understood, that this entry is not an indictment, for if so than I too stand accused of being less of a representation of humanity and more of an agent for capitalism and individualism...but I see the error in my ways. I sat and I thought about the arguement over the war in Iraq. Congress wanting to pull the purse, and the President talking about how that would be a disservice to the troops. Neither discussing the debt they both owe, to the thousands who have lost their lives and the generation that has lost their hope, for a war that has more to do with priviledge and capital than with freedom. What is the debt owed to mankind...for the destruction of a generation of people?

Numbers and money will mean little on the day of judgement...and I, well, I will be judged just the same as all others. What will our debts be on that day and will our lives-really how we have lived in this life-be payment for our debts?