Chains that hold us down

Somewhere in an office, "I'm sorry. I'll make sure to pay more attention next time" is spoken with a defeated and anxious voice. The owner of that voice is a 28 years old woman, who was once a child full of dreams and aspirations, but is now just another cog in the wheel.
After Ruby went back to her little tight cubic, she called up her friend, Trish, who instantly knew what was bothering her. "Your boss is being a prick to you again?" Trish said after greeting her. "Nah, guess it was really my fault this time.." Ruby answered after letting out a sigh. "Y'know, Ruby, you used to have so many dreams and aspirations.. I don't know why you threw them all away" To which Ruby angrily responded with "Trish, please. I don't need this right now. You always say the same damn thing to me over and over, you know all my dreams were just unrealistic dreams of grandeur, I don't have the enough money for them, not enough time not-" "Ruby, let me ask you this. What are chains made of?" Trish interrupted her. Ruby let out yet another sigh and answered with "... Metal? Look, Trish, I called you to let off some steam and vent to you, not so you can lecture me or ask me stupid questions.. I'll talk to you later." And just as Ruby was about to hang up, Trish called out for her. "Ruby!!" Ruby then paused for a bit and asked ".. What?" with a slightly angry tone. "You might think that my question was stupid, but your answer is even uhh, stupid-er." Trish replied. "Trish.. I think you meant "more stupid" you airhead." Ruby said, after letting out a repressed giggle. "Uhh, yeah, whatever. You know I'm not that smart. Anyways, at least you didn't deny your answer being more stupid than my question. I have to go now, my dog is barking his head off. I hope you think about my question later. Talk to you later!" Ruby then put down her phone.
She stared at her computer screen for a bit then looked to her right, she had some pictures of her cat on her desk, with a smile on her face, she thought to herself "Ahh, Brownie. Being a cat like you must be so fun and care-free.. you can do whatever you want, you can jump so high, you can run so far, you're almost as free as a bird. I wonder if you have any goals and dreams.. if you did, I'm sure you can achieve them all without anyone holding you down.." Ruby's smile faded. "... Unlike humans.. we're stuck in a vicious cycle of putting down each other.. holding each other down.. never-" Her rather cliché line of thought was interrupted by her phone. "Hello? Oh, boss! Alright, I'll make sure to send it. I'm sorry." After that seemingly upsetting phone call, Ruby just let out her biggest and longest sigh yet. "I did so well at school, I stayed up nights studying and working on projects, I got such an excellent percentage when I graduated, yet I still feel unsatisfied. What is this? Was all my work for nothing? My parents told me everything will be much easier if I just get into a good college and get good grades at school, they told me that I should stop having dreams of grandeur, so I did.. I really did throw away my dreams.. I stopped dreaming. Trish is right.. even though she didn't do well at school and doesn't really have a uh, convenient job, she's doing what she loves. Her parents put her down her entire life, so did everyone around her, including me, sadly. But she still managed to break out of all that and go after her dreams, whether they were trivial or seemingly "stupid".. she's amazing.. and most importantly, happy and satisfied with her life.."
Ruby started rethinking many choices in her life, including her listening to her parents in regards to her dreams. Ruby actually went through the same thing Trish did, they were both ridiculed by their own family, friends and classmates for their aspirations. "Stop having childish dreams" "It's time to grow up already" "Your dreams won't do you any good" were phrases that took up most of their lives. The difference is that Trish knocked down those words, while Ruby just absorbed them. How depressing, how depressing it is to be so full of imagination, creativity, dreams and hopes, just for someone to hold you down like that.. and it's not just anyone, but the people closest to you. It's almost as if they couldn't fulfil their goals- if they even had any in the first place- so they try to make you go down the same path as theirs.
Ruby spent a good while thinking about all of this. "I wanted to soar the skies and touch the cloud, and here I am in a depressing cubic that fills me with anything but good feelings.. who took away my dreams from me?.. why can't I feel proud screaming out my dreams anymore? who did this to me?.." But Ruby knew the answer very well. It was no one but herself that LET her dreams vanish, if she hadn't listened to people trying to put her down, she would've been flying next to the birds she longed to be as free as.. instead of being stuck in this suffocating job that fills her with empty, hollow feelings. ".. Even though I get told I'm too old to do anything now, I'll treat those words the same way I treat flies. Even though I'm scared of them, I'll just shoo them until they go away, and if they don't want to go away, I'll knock them down myself." Refilled with determination, Ruby tried to hold her excitement, it's been years since she felt like that, it's a nostalgic, hopeful and determined feeling. And as silly as it might sound, you would never appreciate this feeling unless you experience it.
Ruby realized something, she quickly grabbed her phone and called Trish. Trish picked up the phone, and before she can even say anything, Ruby just exploded saying "Trish! Trish!!! I know the real answer to your question!!" "Whoa whoa, calm down Ruby, I haven't saw you this excited in ages. So, what's the answer?" Trish said, in a very happy tone. "Metal isn't the only thing chains are made of.. right? Humans, too, can be chains that hold us down. Right next to financial situations, economic statue, and-" Ruby answered, but then was interrupted by Trish. "Okay, kid, you were on the right track, leave all that serious stuff aside. You were right, though. Humans can be chains as well. You see, Ruby, we both had a lot of those chains holding us down, but I broke free of them, and I'm certain you can and WILL too. You want to be some crazy aerobatics plane captain or something, right? Heh, you're wild. Reaching that won't be easy, but if you want dreams to come true, you have to make them come true. How about you come down to my place later? We can talk more about this over lunch." Ruby happily agreed, then quickly grabbed her things to head to Trish's house, ignoring her boss and empty responsibilities. Alas, she was still met with the cruel reality of living a hollow, meaningless life. “Just where do you think you’re going?” Her boss stopped her. Ruby’s boss is one of her biggest fears, he’s also one of the chains holding her down, and like what she’s doing to the other chains holding her from doing anything, she knocked him down. “Outta my way! I’m a dreamer on the quest of achieving my dream, and you’re not stopping me!” Ruby pushed her boss out of the way and ran out of the building. Of course that was a little overboard but can you really blame her? After being held down for so long, it’s only normal to burst out like this.
Is what Ruby doing good? Is it bad? Well, that’s none of our business. Of course it’s important to have and maintain a job, but what’s the use of it if it just makes you feel depressed and hollow?
As Ruby was driving to Trish’s house, all the memories of her young inspired self were flooding in. Memories of her making paper planes and flying them around, wearing a cape and pretending to fly, reading books about airplanes and watching videos of them. Her eyes started tearing up, but they were tears of joy. The joy of nostalgia mixed with determination and inspiration, the joy of knowing you finally threw away your chains and grabbed your dreams instead, that was the joy that drove Ruby.
After reaching Trish’s house, Ruby hurried to the door and kept knocking on it and yelling Trish’s name. Trish instantly knew it was her and opened the door. “Hey, you’re kinda early. It’s still 10am y'know-“ before Trish could finish her sentence, Ruby hugged her while saying “Thank you, thank you.”
You see, my dear reader, just like how people can be chains, they can also be your key to free you from those chains, all you have to do is find them and listen to them.
After that tears-filled hug, Trish took Ruby inside her house and they spent the whole day talking about their dreams and aspirations. After a couple of years of studying, working and looking for a good plane to fly, Ruby was finally able to soar the skies.

And so, Ruby broke away from her chains that held her down for so, so long.
How about you? Did you break away from yours, yet?

By: Sama Osama Kinsara