I met Lakey, a sociology professor, during independent travel in Rishikesh. During a hike (pictured above) we were able to have an extraordinary conversation about humanity. Despite her having grown up in northeastern India, it showed me location does not matter, the very basis of humans are the same.
Lakey
There is a major fault in the current human condition. It is an epidemic, a disease killing the very essence of who we really are.
We have buried our souls in a suffocating tar, a sticky substance that engulfs us all, spreading easily from one to the next as we give into its desire to stay.
This tar contains the toxins of a society that puts pressure on our souls until it can breathe no more.
We are breathless and out of life. Full of the shocking disapproval of her, the dissatisfying words from him.
We are buried deep under the fear of an opinion from another, running away from what we truly are, what we really feel, rejecting the option to crawl out in fear of freedom over ourselves, opting for our identity given by others.
We are lost in searching for a connection at the expense of a disconnection from who we are. The connection our souls deeply long for is long gone, driven out by the pressure to ignore instinct and listen to the roar of what is ‘right’, taking the feelings we act like we don’t feel – the things that are too hard to admit – right along with it.
“I have kind of hated myself these past six months.”
I was rattled by the mask-less human sitting before me. In such a short time we knew each other, Lakey spilled words rooted in truth one hardly dares to ever let fall from their mouth.
I was shaken by the authenticity and awe-struck at the presence of the human condition I crave. The one where we say the things that are hard but true.
Me too Lakey, me too.
