Gravity

 

            Of all the great oppressors of man, gravity has to be the worse.  Gravity is a strict tyrant whose power cannot be denied though we constantly try to prove otherwise.  Gravity holds us down and keeps us from spinning off of the planet (which, grudgingly, is not necessarily a bad thing).  It is an indiscriminate killer yet this is not the worst of its crimes.  Gravity’s greatest sin is that it keeps people all over the world from achieving their true potential.

            Some of our greatest heroes have defied gravity.  Look at Superman; he flies about with little regard for gravity and just happens to fight for truth and justice.  A coincidence?  I think not.  His alien ability to defy gravity has allowed him to achieve a purity of spirit and motive that an earth bound, gravity shackled man or woman could never even dream of.  Do some villains fly?  Sure, but they were too embittered by their gravity induced repression to recognize their gift of freedom once they had received it.

            I’ve heard that once man begins living in outer space then we’ll achieve true freedom, but I think that this philosophy is ultimately flawed.  While escaping the earth’s gravity will certainly lessen the burden of it upon our well being, each of us takes our own gravity with us and as long as we live in community we will always be affected by the gravity of others.  Some daring pioneers have announced their decisions not to be affected by the gravity of others, and while they’re attempts at living without gravity are commendable, ultimately they find their own gravity betrays them and they are forced into a sort of wide orbit around others.

            I was once one of those people who tried to defy gravity, both in general and in the form of community gravity.  It is easy to say that you are unaffected by or that you don’t care about the gravity, and that you won’t be dominated by it, but it is an entirely different matter to actually do it.  Youthful arrogance makes it possible to believe that gravity is inconsequential, something that others must obey, but not I. Oh no; I could ignore gravity completely if I chose. 

I did choose that option, but unbeknownst to me at the time, gravity is not something that can be easily rejected.  I was forced to live with gravity by my friends and family as I was never quite able to reject all of their gravity, and I don’t think I would have been completely happy if I had managed to do so.

It took me some time, but with age and education I finally figured out that while it wouldn’t be completely satisfying to live without gravity, the amount of gravity and the sources of gravity were what I could influence.  I now try to live my life under the influence of positive gravity, not the kind that drags me down and crushes me under its weight, but the kind that helps put the bounce in your step and keeps the atmosphere from flying away.

I still think gravity is a tyrant, and that some day I’d like to reduce its influence on me enough to truly fly, but in the mean time I’ll try to learn what I can from it and pass on what I’ve learned of gravity to others.