THE BEE TOLD ME HE "'AINT GON' BE JUDGED"

            As I set the microwave to heat up a soothing cup of green tea for exactly the next two and a half minutes, I tilted my focus to the landscape beyond the grated kitchen windows to take in the majesty and splendor of midday, noting in irony, the stark contrast between my world of 'books and boredom', and the world of freedom that flourished outside. "Hmm..," I thought, as if to dismiss the senseless thought.
 

            And, just when I was turning in impatience to confirm how much longer I was to wait for the 'brewing' cup of green tea, I chanced upon the sight of a proverbially 'busy' bee, buzzing away with not a care in its mind (if it has one), and was, just then, simply awe-struck at how ridiculous, and even ludicrous the whole scenario was! How ever could an individual bee dare lead such a simplified existence, driven by the mere incentives to feed, reproduce and survive; and yet I here am utterly consumed in a swirl of multidimensional circumstances which I am unnervingly conscious and aware of, even down to very irrelevant details. What mockery, natural injustice, is this?

           And yet I realize, at that moment, that we humans have been blessed with the double edged sword of consciousness; knowledge of the world around us that allows us, to mold it as we desire, and choice - to decide whether to do one thing or the other. The same sword that we may use to slay our inner demons of greed and fleshly desire is the same sword that threatens to pin us against the cross of our very carpentry, to suffer the consequences of our misdeeds, bearing us ultimately accountable to the ways in which we wielded the very sword.

           And so you ask me, "Why, why are we, humans, "blessed" or "cursed" with consciousness?" I don't know, and yet I may have an idea (as per creationist teachings), but 'really' I don't. What I do know is that the fortune can outweigh the misgiving, if we only allow it. The bee itself said it, "I bzzz.. have no care beyond my immediate duties, and I am contented with my services to nature; bzzz.. You're different ..bzzz… because you have a choice."

           I'm different ..because I have a choice. These words continue to echo in, and even haunt my mind.

(to be continued)

 

Oh busy bee,

You sing to me,

You look at me so carefree,

I wish to live,

And dance and see,

Through your puny eyes,

And body,

This life of glee,

Oh if only,

I could enjoy it's beauty,

I envy you,

You creature you,

Who lives so free,

And happy!

 

-Jude.