r/byline

I caught myself again, teetering on the edge of digital damnation - Slipping into comment sections and allowing the venom to permeate through me.

“You disgust me” “You are worthless” “I hope you die” I close the digital device and stare into the distance. What was so wrong with my opinions? Is there not freedom in speech anymore? Of course not, everyone gets offended by anything. I open the screen again and assess.

Honestly, I was merely asking questions. What if the beloved actress is actually 3 raccoons in an overcoat? What if the energetic politician is being mind controlled by aliens? What if your mom was literally sitting around the house? None of these ideas are impossible, you know.

What if, I pondered, merely by asking questions I could impact the flow of reality? What if up was down? What if the sky was an illusion? What if we were, all of us, insignificant bits of code in a simulation running in an ancient God’s basement?

And what if anything? What if a bomb drops right on your head? You think reality is just going to bend its will to you? Get real, kid, every moment is breathed into reality by the Divine. You’ll knock your head against it again and again until you learn what it’s here to teach.