Most of us subconsciously know that the world is a Circus
A circus where there is a Ring Master
A performer
A Joker and
An Animal
Sometimes, we experience power of being
The "Ring Master"
Telling every performer what to do
Being marvelled at our orchestration of
“The Act”
And sometimes we like to be
The Performer and the Joker.
We get accolades for the risks he takes
We get claps for another performance well done.
For making everyone laugh at our inadequacies
And sometimes we don’t realize that we become the
Caged animal.
A victim of our own choices.
We are beaten and bruised by the Ringmaster
We listen to him but
We experience anger and rage
And hunger
And helplessness
Feeling emotionally raped
And Violated hoping someone will see our pain
But everyone is busy with their "Act".
Little do we realise that
Neither role is fit for us
The Ringmaster will get attacked by the angry Animal
And eventually get humiliated
The Joker will always be sad inside
The Performer will be doing the same thing,
Every day, day in and day out
Even the claps will be the same
Some memories get pushed in the past
And come gushing back to life
Reopening old wounds
Memories of another day..
Memories of another day..
What we think is buried and over
And life has moved on and we have become stronger and better
We realise the human mind is after all
Not made of stone
It will brim with pain and
It will experience tears
We seem to want the claps
The Validation
We want to make the world laugh
And want to be sad inside
We want to be the tamed animal
The good kid mom always wanted us to be
The Ringmaster who controls the Act.
We finally realise that we run with the world
And it’s almost like we are rotating with the world.
At the end of it, I have realised, its best to be a spectator
Of the world moving around us.
Never getting too involved.
Not getting hurt or angry
Not seeking validation
But simply watching
Dispassionately
At the charade
Let the world around you rotate
You be still..
And take a ring side view.
No matter how strong the temptation,
Remain a spectator always.
That my friend is the lesson of life.
Parag Shah
December 2011
