Cadet

Keiran Legg

What does the world need right now? Standing at the lectern I stare into the dark abyss of a faceless audience. The question echoes in the auditorium and then settles in my head. Feeling slightly like a pageant queen I feel inclined to answer with world peace or rights for armadillos but some brighter idea emerges from between life's conditioning.

I realize that everyday we walk amongst the indentations of footsteps trod by millions. We embrace routine because in many ways routine is the only reality we know. It is comforting to understand the consequences of our actions and not to question why we find it comforting. Wrapped in the familiarity of everyday life we soldier on for some anonymous and unintelligible cause.

The one thing the world needs right now is for people to diverge from the traffic of life. Take a moment and look. Assess what you know and question whether you really know anything at all.

I notice disquiet amongst the audience in front of me. There is a shuffling of nervous feet. “What does he mean?”, I imagine they are thinking. “Bahhh it's just another hippy trying to sell the 'indie' lifestyle”. I take a deep breath, the air thick with distrust.

My idea is not radical. It speaks to the hidden desire of every person working like clockwork to complete some thankless task. People spend thousands a year drowning themselves in alcohol just to later dig up their regret in the four walled offices of psychologists or to weep on the shoulders of their loved ones. Everyday we scream for affirmation through Facebook. Like me. Just like me. The modern human has trapped themselves. They have locked themselves into the path of their fathers and mothers and they understand the redundancy of going this way.

Why in the era of infinite possibilities do we use all these tools to build cages? Why do we use social media to alienate each other just to affirm a broken idea of ourselves? There is no happiness in routine. There is no existence in merely accepting ideas without thought. Just the other day we discovered that light may not be the fastest molecule. Science as we know it could change overnight. There is no concrete truth, no obvious good and bad. There is no black and white. Yet we accept every truth as if its lifespan is infinite and when it is proven wrong we accept what has come in its place. We don't need to answer any more questions. The one thing the world needs right now is for people to begin questioning their answers. - Independent Newspapers Cadet School