Munch

“What you’re doing is not going to benefit your future”, the words of his uncle felt like a piercing knife cutting through the flesh of an open wound. 

Jack kept his composure and responded to the condescending statement with a gentle quiet smile. 

We all desire a bright future, a future filled with stability, success and status. Who wouldn't. Yet, the question lies - what defines a bright future? Stability, success and status? Really? 

Munching away his sixth pineapple tart, Jack filtered through his myriad of thoughts on this issue. It irked him emotionally to receive such a deigned statement.

"What you're doing is not going to benefit your future" - a statement with many layers of truth. It reveals how people define success in the eyes of the world and what their priorities and direction in life are. It's true, what we do defines who we are and who we are or who we want to be shapes our future. Ultimately, there's only two ways to respond to this statement; choose to define or be defined. 

It was discouraging to receive such a comment, Jack thought. Yet beneath the pelter of such comment, certain things became evident. It was clear that what Jack was about to do was radical, something beyond the norm. Something perhaps many cannot accept. It proved that where he was about to step was uncharted territory. It reassured him of what needed to be done, who he was and what sort of future he desires to have. The torrential feelings of despair and discouragement slowly turned into an assurance of sorts. The calm after the storm.      

Jack opened the lid, dug his hand in the container, took a piece out and munched his seventh pineapple tart with satisfaction. 

Munch or be munched, he satirically thought.