Choice

Choice

When I was born I did not have any choice

My name, what I wore and ate and how

Determined by family, people, others around

When I think back, I really had no choice

Then I gained gradually that thing important

Between my ears in that hard bony cage

Not the brain for the hardware was there

The program to run it the mind dawned

As it metamorphosed it began exercising

In tiny toddler steps to begin with

The one power it inherently had

That of choice, my choice

The colors of clothes, the flavor of Cerelac

Make of footwear, type of cartoon

And more domains now in my kingdom

To choose, active or passive, but to choose

The choice of friends for family was given

Choice of loved subjects for curriculum was given

The choice of teacher for school was given

Choice of serials for watching t.v. was given

The seriousness of choice grew exponentially

Gender, sexuality, opinions, ideology, hatefulness

And the likes of it shrouded thoughts and formed

Intermingled with freedom a heady cocktail

The hollow reprimand of mother earlier

For disdain for a particular vegetable

Now paled before the loggerheads at home over

Traveling, partying, girlfriends, drinking, career

When choices echoed in the portals of society

The echo heard back was sometimes howler

Sometimes applause of acceptance

Or stony silence of questioning them

Straitjacket of various kinds exist

With their keepers wishing I would conform

In thoughts, in action, in choices

Some I choose to fit in others I don’t

Everyone has a mind of their own and hence

Choices of their own which I shall

Respect however vehemently I disagree

For that is cornerstone of humanity

My choice should not be a thorn

In the path of any other being

Nor should it be a framework

For any other to just adopt and fit

In conflict with morality my choices might stand

In defiance of norms they might jut out

Hypocrisy and double standards it should shun

Stabbing, stepping over, it should refrain

The road ahead in the years of life

Will pose for sure situations demanding choice

Which will be of paramount pain or pleasure

Yet leaving no choice to embark on it

My choice is me, both with halo and pitchfork

I choose to show either at my choice of time

In battles of morality shall I choose what I wish

To bear consequences of it all