004 — The Monkey and the Mirror | Talon Z. Gray

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The outrage is justified.
The heinousness is real.
But step back—just for a moment—and ask yourself:
Why do they want you to look here?

The spectacle is loud because it must be.
The distractions are grotesque because they have to be.
If the deception weren’t so absolute, the truth might slip through the cracks.
And the truth, if you could grasp it, would terrify you.

But you are in the forest.
And when you stand too deep within it, you see only trees.
You do not see the shape of the land, the terrain you’ve been funneled through, or the hands guiding your every step.
You only see what they let you see.

So be careful in your rage.
Be careful in your resistance.
Because what happens when the noise dies down?
What happens when we bask on milk and toast?
When grocery prices return to normal?
When your fears are soothed with full bellies and fleeting comforts?

How do you resist when you, as a monkey, have been given bananas?
When you, as a monkey, have been given a mirror?
When you, as a monkey, are content in your cage, believing yourself free because the bars are painted like trees?

And then, as the dust settles, the only thing left to chase is the illusion of status.
A new social notification.
A fleeting moment of artificial adoration.

They love me. I love popularity.
One day, I’ll be a superstar.
One day, I’ll have eggs again.

Maybe next time, I’ll get a dozen instead of six.
I hiss, sometimes. I’m no serpent. Just hungry.

And by then, the forest will have swallowed it whole.
We will never have seen it.

One day it changed.
The ocean grew away from land, and never came back.
Wobbly incoming swells on a growing horizon.
A warning the monkey never saw.
Time bends will and will tell,
"All is well".