Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery.

“I have looked at many women with lust. I have committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I do this, and forgives me.” Former American President Jimmy Carter had said this in what appears to be an extremely brave moment of unflinching honesty. No one, and I repeat no one, has escaped adultery. To my mind there are only two kinds of people – the ones who would indulge in adultery, and the others, who would think of adultery but not indulge in it; but there is no third kind, the ones you’d like to believe are people who neither think nor commit adultery. If anyone were to say that he or she has never ever thoughts of someone else while they have been with another. I would say, tell that to the marines! Complete balderdash! We are two people, all of us. One that the world knows, and the other that we keep to ourselves, locked and closeted with access only given to our minds. No one dare enter. Is this rant about adultery then? No its not. The above take on adultery is only a way of expressing the duplicity that exists within all of us. This duplicity is also what brings me to the principle that I would like to share today: its only anonymity that brings out our real selves. In essence, what it means is that to be your real self, you have to be someone no one can recognize. To let your honest and true desires surface, you have to pretend to be someone that you are not to be you. It’s tragic and quite ironical. What has the world turned us into? Why are people constantly afraid of being judged for who they are? In every person, there exists that other person who wants to be free. The greatest irony – and tragedy – of human nature is that to be yourself, you have to be someone no one can recognize. Alas! It’s too late to rewrite the dictum of society. It’s the rare person who dares, and goes against the dictum. For the rest, there is anonymity, and it seems to be the only way to be. Have fun then, but don’t get caught! _ME THINKS_ Vikram Bhatt.