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Average Is Not Safe By Jesse Elder


I urge you to be gently 

and respectfully

dangerous 

to the status quo


for they will benefit mightily

from being confronted 

by the adventure 

of your refusal to conform.


If you think average means safe, 

you’re not paying very much attention.


I’ve found that I’m happiest 

when I fit in with the weird ones.


Those different, 

sweet and savage souls 

who have chosen to be 

unique notes in the song of life


who follow some 

silent and invisible signal

known only to them


not the same constrained 

monotony of

mangled chords 


which the suppression of spirit

strangles out quietly 

in a sea of manipulative 

meetings and 

loosened neckties 

denoting faux freedom


these are costumes 

meant to hold up customs 


and

long dead antiquities 

such as retirement

centralized control 

and treating people 


as fodder in the decaying 

machine of manufactured needs; 


customers consumed 

in the dying gasps 

of a crumbling patriarchy


Freedom isn’t free 


but it is simple, 

requiring only 

the constant choice to move 

against the enormous 

social gravity of a society 


filled with the buzzing 

momentum of drones 

and a few weakly held 

positions that are soon to expire.


Follow the song of your soul,

that soundless hum that whispers 

inside your heart and gut.


It knows your reason 

for being here and it will 

show you the way if you let it.


If I may humbly 

make a suggestion…


Stop chasing, 

for you ARE the prize.


Stop controlling, 

for surrender contains 

more freedom 

than you can right now 

imagine.


Start listening. 


To yourself, and to others, 

and to what this planet 

can tell you.


Start moving, 

for movement is life.


And be responsibly dangerous.


Because

In a world 

of dulled conformity


it’s the only way 

to advance.

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