The Definition of Slavery

It's amazing really. All over the world there are age old rivalries over one group exploiting the other group. Everyone it seems is up in arms about past and current wrongs regarding slavery and nobody seems to realize that they, themselves, are slaves as well.
On a personal note, I am only twenty-six years of age and I honestly feel as though everyday of my life is controlled by another person or persons. Speaking as a human being, this is quite a sickening thought. I look around at the children in the schools and the students in university to find nothing but beaten down individuals whose only wish is to do what they're told. Read what they're told to read, believe the labels they're told are real, and be the person they're told will be ultimately happy. Now, let me make this quite clear, it is completely and utterly possible to live in blissful ignorance. You can, in fact, drift through life walking blindly through the maze, working from job to job, taking less and less time to yourself, and convince yourself that you're perfectly alright and "this is how things are.". Have you ever said that? Horrible statement.
First of all, things never stay the same. The only constant in the entire universe is Change. So, if things always change, then why does everything around me struggle to keep things the same? Why do our vary cities arrogantly try to defy nature? Floods, tornadoes, drought, hurricanes, and other natural "disasters" happen on a daily basis, but still we persist in rebuilding and "carrying on". Why? Because we have no choice. We have to carry on, develop more land, make more money, provide more jobs, and inevitably feed the system. We Have to participate or we go hungry. All the food is locked away, remember? You need money to get the key, the key requires a job, and poof your freedom is gone.
And so, because I was born into a system I don't condone or agree with, I am forced to look every human being I meet in the face and pity the tragic events that have and will happen to them. I have to look at a flawed system and the resulting pain, and I have no choice. There is nowhere to go.
People have often told me "well, go into small towns. Things are more simple out there." That's true, of course, but being a smaller part of the problem still isn't being "out" of the problem. I still pay taxes, I still support an infrastructure that is designed for someone like me to pay many other people to create rules for me to live by.
It's subtle, and there are definitely a myriad of distractions to keep you from noticing it, but you and I are the same. If you don't believe we are connected by life, believe we are connected in our slavery. The binds are no longer shackles, but a thin veil of confusion held over your eyes.
Tear the veil, walk away from the machine. Change starts with us. The machine both exists and ceases to be by our will.

The Journal of a Forgetful God