In the play called Life, we know that the world doesn't revolve around us...but we think it should. Each one of us IS the star of the show. The problem is that all the other billions of people are the stars of their shows, too. Each one of us has our own idea of how the world should be run. For me, cities should be cities, and the country should remain the country. Open space shouldn't get ripped out for storage facilities, condominiums that bring in hundreds of ever-changing faces, or roads expanded for an explosion of vehicles. For politics, opinions can be different, but they're supposed to bring the community together, not rip them apart. Religion should create love between people, not create hateful enemies. And when I'm driving, I expect a good three seconds of open space both in front and behind my car. I expect to get mostly green lights, others to obey the speed limits, and not to have to wait for others so I can make a left-hand turn.
This world is changing, but I'm not ready for it. I hate how everyone is so obsessed with their cell phones. Human interaction is getting interrupted by a dumb text, or replaced by a meaningless e-mail. Heads are lowered as fingers fly across keypads...texting while in the company of a forgotten friend, or carelessly behind the wheel. Conversations that are supposed to be private are shared over grocery stores, behind bathroom stalls, and at the cash register...where the cashier stands awkwardly, wondering whether she's allowed to tell you that you need to either pay or leave so she can ring up the next customer.
I'm tired of people who don't share my beliefs think that I'm wrong, or being uptight, or being unreasonable, disrespectful, or even ignorant. In my life, as the star of my show, of COURSE I'm right! I believe things because they make me who I am. My play is based around my beliefs, because without them, my play would have no plot. But on the other hand, I understand that THEY'RE right, too, in their eyes. What frustrates me is that they're the ones who seem to be calling all the shots, changing the scene in MY play that I was actually enjoying. It's a feeling of helplessness, knowing that if I say something, the audience is going to turn on me, and ban me from my own play that I worked so hard on.
In a play of over 7 billion actors, I know that things are going to get messy, and that things aren't always going to go my way, but I want so desperately to keep the plot the same. It's hard letting go of a scene that I was so looking forward to, and it's hard realizing that the props I've been given aren't as great as others'. It's hard seeing someone else take over and direct my play, someone I don't trust, but someone who's trying so hard to make the play into what they had envisioned.
It's hard to share the stage with actors who have a different vision than me, who are in a bigger hurry than me, who have more spotlights than me, and whose voice carries further than my own. But still, here I sit, in a small, small corner of the stage, continuing on with my scene whether others actually notice or not. The show is going on as it always has done, and the name on the director's chair will continue to change. The play of Life will never keep to one scene, because how would the characters develop? With the villains, tragedies and triumphs, it's what keeps the audience interested and on edge. And when the final curtain falls, we will all take a bow, whether we've fallen or remained standing, because we were the stars. All 7.1 billion of us.
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