My Literature Teacher

I thought of the White Mountains today. I never understood what my teacher was talking about when she referred to our Literature book: The White Mountains. Afterall it is about some boy running away from the tripods because he didn't want to have metal cap embedded in his skull. Yet today, it all clicked in my mind. Perhaps I was feeling really frustrated and trapped. Perhaps my mind finally opened and I saw the light. Perhaps, perhaps....

How many times I have been told "That's life. You will have to accept things as they are"... "It is normal because everyone feels the same". Yet does it mean that it is the right way? How many of us spend more than a third of our day at work? What is work anyway? Why do you work? What is the drive behind it all? Money? Fame? Prestige? The weirdest thing is that most people think it is normal to commit so much time at work... to constantly strive for improvements and achievements. Like as though we all wear a metal cap embedded in our skull... the tripods telling us that we should work hard... striving for greater results... blah blah blah...

How many of us are brave enough to be different and not conform to these so called norms... or how many of us are caught in this web, struggled to break free and in turn lose our sanity... I finally understood my teacher's passion. A pity that it is only when I felt that I am already caught in this web.