MY MAD DREAM OF AN ESSAY

Remember that time you ate that spicy branch just before you went to bed on the night before the big concert?  Oh, that weird dream you had about the 2016 presidential election.  When you woke up you couldn't quite remember the crazy details, but after reading "On Self-Reliance" and "A Sound of Thunder" it's all coming back to you now.

The dream started badly.  You were in line with your family at a concert waiting to be sent to jail.  Everywhere you looked there were posters of president-elect Mac Donald-Berger, looking like a crazy lion who could eat a whole zoo.   

Suddenly, there was Ralph Waldo Emerson telling you, "Be Thyself."  You realized that you have something to contribute to the world so you decided to fight.  But it wasn't easy.  First you had to put on a fancy suit and get weapons and then you had make a time machine to go back in time to the concert so you could convince people to learn about the candidates and the sexism in this world.

But right there in the concert there was a giant mob and it started yelling at everyone.  People started to panic.  You grabbed a gun from a nearby store and yelled "YOU JUST MET YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE."  Everyone stopped and listened, so you kept going.

PEOPLE, PLEASE LISTEN. VIOLENCE IS NOT THE SOLUTION WE SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR. OUR ACTIONS WILL ALWAYS LEAD TO CONSEQUENCES AND IF WE CHOOSE THE PATH OF VIOLENCE THIS WILL NOT END WELL. THINK OF THE CONSEQUENCES AND HOW OUR LIVES WILL CHANGE. WE DON'T NEED ANYMORE HATE THAN WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE! WE HAVE TO THINK BEFORE WE MAKE ANY CHOICES. THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE FOR THIS WORLD AND UPCOMING GENERATIONS. I ONCE CHOSE TO SHUT ALL THE PEOPLE OUT THAT I LOVED FROM MY LIFE. I CHOSE TO LIVE A LIFE OF DEPRESSION, WITHOUT LOVE. I WAS KEEPING ALL MY FEELINGS INSIDE OF ME AND I WASN'T LETTING ANYONE IN. I WASTED SO MUCH TIME FEELING SAD, HATING LIFE WHEN THE WORLD AND MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY HAD SO MUCH TO OFFER. JUST LIKE EMERSON ONCE SAID, DON'T FALL INTO THE CROWD OF OUR SOCIETY WHEN YOU KNOW YOURSELF BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE AND YOU KNOW THAT YOU WANT TO DO THE RIGHT THING. DON'T STEP ON THE BUTTERFLY, BE THE BUTTERFLY, BE THYSELF.