-Suppression

[Words to Image. I take a random picture and stare at it. It speaks to my imagination, and I spend the next 15 or so minutes typing my take on it]

Cynthia asked to be included, but the others said 'no.' There were no articulable reasons, as to why. It was merely a group denial triggered by one simple thought. A questionable supposition. As time passed, no one remembered the thought or even who spoke it. All that was recalled was a constant rejection was in play and the norm silently gave it reoccurrence. Still, she continued to ask.

Eventually, the crowd grew in numbers. New people were added to old people and Cynthia faced a greater opposition. She, now, must gain the permissions of a greater whole for the same petitions, to be included. Each ask bore the same fruit. Each utterance was shot down with excuses and insults. Each rejection added to the pile already weighing on her heart.

'How much can one take?' she thought.

No one entertained the notion that she might have something to add, worth knowing. Perhaps her ideas were great. Suppose her insight prompted thought provoking epiphanies. What if her point of view changed everything one thought was true? All thoughts that were never shared, one to another. Possible questions that were never given light and always remained hidden as to not give the appearance the questioning was not weaker than the rest. A collective group of naysayers that effortlessly silenced any and all freethinkers. Always silencing Cynthia. Fall in line. This was the unspoken rule.

Cynthia approached the group and promised that if she were to be included, she would show them miracles and amazing wonders. She was denied. And they all felt secure in their denials, in the eyes of each other. She spoke of great feats and majestic moments that would challenge the mind, if they would only give her the opportunity to share. She was denied. And they all felt secure, mindful of the ever-watching eyes. She told them stories of levitating and channeling those who have passed on, but they simply laughed while rejecting her. They laughed until the most decent within the group gave in and laughed along.

'How much can one take?' she thought.

She felt alone, and she was. She waited for their inclusion, and it never came. She waited to show them who she was, but she never did. She waited to be free, but she never was.

Cynthia had spent a lifetime begging to be included. She had unknowingly masked her own greatness, because she, too, had conformed to their rejections. She allowed them to dictate who she was. If it were not allowed, then it must be suppressed. But she couldn't see her own hand in it, blinded by their limitations, the same as each one did to another. She attempted to lay it all at their feet but, truth be told, some of it needed to be at her own. Had she only thought to simply be and not require permission, she would have been heard all along. She would have been free.

(Dedicated to anyone who wishes to step out of their own darkness, and shine. Go for it!)