Things I Can’t Allow Myself to Think

We pretend to admire colors, yet we paint the world in black and white. We open ourselves to new ideas, provided those notions don’t cross the threshold between right and wrong—or good and bad or true and false—in our brilliantly colored black-and-white world.

In our world, so neatly ironed and folded and put to bed at night in its perfect place, there is no room for ambiguity. Ambiguity is no friend to comfort and certainty and absolutism. Questions suggest imprecision and weakness and, above all, a failure to adhere to the ideals set forth by the current iteration of “open-minded society.”

So many areas of the human mind are taboo. We are taught it is impossible or wrong or hurtful to hold notions contrary to the prevailing norms of social order.  Instantly, that concept runs into brutal reality. Where, exactly, do the normative measures take place?

I find myself thinking about these things as I think of other things unsuited for public expression.  It’s too damn bad, isn’t it?  There is so much to learn, if only we’d allow ourselves the opportunity to cast away judgement for a while. If only we’d put ourselves in another person’s shoes.

There are things I can’t allow myself to think.  But I find I’m letting myself think them, anyway.  Is it obvious?  Oh, I think it is.

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes
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