Welcome to the Maze, Children

Welcome to the maze
Some happen to call it life
But truly, it’s just another part
Of the way we were meant to end up

You have all been equipped with strings
You will be led around by men, powerful men
They hold the strings
They will tell you what your future holds

They say they have been through the maze before
And they think they know how you should go through it
They will show you a way
It is the easy way, the beaten path

The beaten path that they show you
Will have many shortcuts
After all, these men have done it before you
They’ll show you the way to “success”

In following their way through the maze
They’ll pull your strings
Move you around like a pawn in a chess game
You’ll never run into walls, or find false doors
You’ll never taste of sweet defeat

And your life will be essentially the same as theirs
You’ll play their games
Politic in their styles
And be in every way like they were

Your strings will be controlled

But, my young son
If you choose the alternative
To cut your strings
To let you yourself guide you
And to let no one control you

I’ll tell you what will happen
They’ll throw walls in your face
You may see the light at the end of the tunnel
And then they’ll slam down the door on you

Because, you see, they control the maze
They’ve rigged the system
But they’ve forgotten that the future
Is yet unwritten

If you cut your strings
Take back control
You will fail, many a time
Your face will hit the ground
Over and over again

But if you rise up,
If you continue the fight, if you refuse to go down
And force them to fight fair
You will win

For you see, these are not men at all
But forces, forces no eye can see
They are tradition, hatred, and demagoguery
Blind faith, hopelessness, and lack of belief in the future

And they’re pulling your strings
Taking control of you
Playing off your emotions
And your basic need for acceptance

If you cut your strings
They will torment you endlessly
And you will fail
Initially

But eventually, after time and time of defeats
You’ll win one
And another
And another, still

Until finally, after a long battle
Against the forces that control people
After fighting the good fight
You will win

Because they cannot control you
You have to give in to them
You have to let them tell you what to think
For they are nothing more than misplaced ideas

And you, you are a man
With ideas of your own
And you can show the world
How they’re being controlled

And there’s nothing they can say about it.

But my son, I will not promise you any success
Many a good man, has perished in the maze of life after cutting his strings
But one thing I will promise you
It is better to die in the maze, with your strings cut
Than live on the other side, still being controlled