Don't you think it's time to cut it?

The Red Ribbon

Cool and fresh green leaved trees. A carpet of life at the base of a sharp ridged mountain. Breath held as the sky lightens. The sun breaks the peak in a torrent of magnificent glory. All is light and gold and then returns the darkness and confusion of artificial warmth and glow. The cold hard floor rising to meet the conduit of escapism. Why do you follow me? Ice blue eyes, piercing, haunting, and yet so strangely comforting. Silent words, filled with compulsion. Don’t think too loud or you’ll be heard. Light, dark, pain, love, joy, laughter. So much laughter. Spirals; strings of regret tangled up to make a spider web of broken dreams and hearts. Broken mind. Who stole the glue? “No one stole it ma’am, we’re just out of stock. You’ll have to wait until we review your worth.” And still you follow, who ever said I would listen?

You have to listen if you can hear

stop

Always near

Stop

Always here

STOP

Without me you can’t see or hear, breathe, feel, live
Quiet now and listen - you have so much more to give…

We always assume that what we see and hear is fact. What if it wasn't? What if you had to gauge everything you experienced off the reactions of others to ensure that they were experiencing the same things? What if your life was as entertaining as a carnival when nothing in fact happened all day? What would you do?

Would you go laugh about it? See it as a trick of the mind and nothing more? Would you cry and feel as though you couldn't handle it? Would you go insane? Accepting things as they were without searching for the line that separates reality from everything else?

What would you do?

I know what I would do. But that's not what this is about, this is to make you think. We, as humans, take so very much for granted and never give a second thought to what could be. We focus on what surrounds us, the thoughts we have, the things we see, the people we talk to. And for the most part we accept these all as being reality. But what is reality?

Reality - /riˈælɪti/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ree-al-i-tee]
–noun, plural -ties for 3, 5–7.

1.	the state or quality of being real.

2.	resemblance to what is real.

3.	a real thing or fact.

4.	real things, facts, or events taken as a whole; state of affairs: the reality of the business world; vacationing to escape reality.

5.	Philosophy. a. something that exists independently of ideas concerning it. b. something that exists independently of all other things and from which all other things derive.

6.	something that is real.

7.	something that constitutes a real or actual thing, as distinguished from something that is merely apparent.

Ok, so that's the dictionary definition of reality, but it doesn't really tell you anything. It requires that you understand what it means for something to be real.

Real - /ˈriəl, ril/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ree-uhl, reel]
–adjective

1.	true; not merely ostensible, nominal, or apparent: the real reason for an act.

2.	existing or occurring as fact; actual rather than imaginary, ideal, or fictitious: a story taken from real life.

3.	being an actual thing; having objective existence; not imaginary: The events you will see in the film are real and not just made up.

4.	being actually such; not merely so-called: a real victory.

5.	genuine; not counterfeit, artificial, or imitation; authentic: a real antique; a real diamond; real silk.

6.	unfeigned or sincere: real sympathy; a real friend.

7.	Informal. absolute; complete; utter: She's a real brain.

8.	Philosophy. a. existent or pertaining to the existent as opposed to the nonexistent. b. actual as opposed to possible or potential. c. independent of experience as opposed to phenomenal or apparent.

So basically it would seem that for something to be real it cannot be fictious, imaginary, artificial or nonexistant. But how does one actually measure that? In most cases it is a simple matter, however there are time when reality cannot be quantified. When we must judge based on our own version of reality what is real and what is not. So it would seem that reality is an assumption on our part of what we percieve to be real.

Perception and assumption is all that truly separates reality from all else. So in that case I put forth, does having a solid grip on 'reality' truly matter? Reality is ever changing with new information, reality is not a constant. For example;

Your friend steals your wallet, however tells you they didn't and tells you that you probably lost it. That means, assuming you believe them, that your reality is that your wallet was lost. Your friends reality is that they stole it. Both are factual to the person viewing them, as reality is perception. Now given new information about your wallet your version of reality will change, however that does not make your previous version of reality unfounded while it was occurring.

The facts that were presented to you left you with a valid perception of a reality. Which also means that everything you see and experience is reality, until discovered otherwise. Our reality is dependent on too many variables to be a constant and with this in mind...

What would you do?