Anarchy
If it were up to me,
I would say
everyone should just do
whatever they want,
anytime.
Absolute freedom.
No rules.
No limits.
No authority to stop you.
But, you say,
that would be anarchy.
What of respect for others?
What of the social bargain,
and reasonable order?
A lovely ideology, all that, but in fact, since crime, strife, mayhem, and chaos are already rampant, it would not get much worse – really, it wouldn’t — because most of you, granted with total freedom, would be respectful and orderly anyway, and continue to be “good.”
But what if?
What if you had complete freedom
to do anything you want?
What if you were free to do
the one thing you think you cannot do,
THE thing you’d really, really love to do
in this lifetime
on this earth
in this body
in the time you have left
in the time you have left
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in the time you have left?
What is that one thing?
Do it, feel it, say it, be it — whatever that thing is, is almost assuredly something thrilling, possibly outrageous, definitely daring, and it’s not about whether the law lets you do it, it’s about whether you let yourself do it.
The freedom,
or lack of it,
is in your head,
and of that,
you are in charge.
Copyright © Jane Grey, 2016, 2026
All rights reserved.
Anarchy excerpted from the forthcoming book
Down the Stream Gently: Inspiration for Authentic Living
My website: hopeinparis.com
Image: La femme en rouge (The Woman in Red), 1923–1924, by Chaïm Soutine (Public Domain)
