Dear awareness,

It was brief, perhaps one session long, perhaps even shorter. It was a quick word said by a group forming their still image, but it echoed and continues to echo in the back of my mind. Complacent; To be pleased, especially with oneself or one's merits, advantages, situation, etc., often without awareness of some potential danger or defect.

It resonates within me. I am complacent.

When I wake up in the morning, my subconscious asks itself the question, “What do I truly know?”. Then I proceed to walk through my day with my eyes half open, half awake. This is by my will, though I may have forgotten that. I open instagram, I open facebook, I open youtube and I look at the things that are so much bigger than myself. But I choose to not see it. And then I scroll past because I think nothing could happen to me. My life will be okay. I am a real life example of a complacent human being.

I believe that selfishness lives in all of us and it takes a compassionate human being to push it aside for even just a moment. To push aside the complacency that we were taught. Like the authority is always right, or young people should just let the adults handle things, or it’s better to just let a situation blow over.  The idea that someone else will take care of it, or that it’s not our problem, or that one person cannot make a difference. But the still lake does not change if it is left untouched. The smallest pebble still makes a ripple. Complacency lives in the stillness, and the echo of that word has caused waves in me. I cannot be the only one. Recognizing it and continuing to ignore it means you choose to let ignorance win.

So we talked about complacency and I know it’s awfully dramatic to be so shaken by a single moment in class, a single word. But words are powerful, and when strung together to form the truth, it becomes a whole different entity. Do we truly need comfort so desperately that we look the other way? Do we choose ignorance only because it is easy? And if we do, is an easy life really best life that we can live?

You keep my eyes open wide. And now, if I could change the world, I would take away all the chairs and sofas in the world so that we would have no choice but to take a stand. If I could change the world, everyone would know sign language so those that refused to listen would at least see.

If I could change the world…

I could change the world...

I could change.

So we talked about complacency. It was brief, perhaps a singular moment. And in that moment, I was awake.

Sincerely,

Jeilymar