What would you do?
In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, books became more than obsolete, they were made illegal. To book lovers, it could be very alarming, utterly unthinkable. Books simply cannot – should not, must not – vanish.
In the movie Totally Awesome, dancing was banned, causing hysterics in some students who considered dancing their life.
They were only fiction, but what if they could come true? And what if music would also be banned – considered illegal? What if even humming would be considered a capital offense, punishable by life imprisonment or, worse, death? Could you take it? Would you? To those who considered music not only entertaining and a form of expressing themselves but also therapeutic, music dying could mean the end of their world. Too cliche, I know. And too much of an exaggeration. But I simply cannot imagine a day, much less a lifetime, devoid of music. I’d certainly go crazy. We all love music. And though some people may be able to go on days, weeks even, without music, sooner or later they’d long for it. But what would happen if it were already gone?
If that day were to ever come (but I’m sure it would not), I wonder to what extent we would go to fight for it. Would we be willing to defy authorities to show our opposition? Would we be willing to turn our backs on a safe and secure, albeit colorless, life and go into hiding, living the life of a vagrant whose future is uncertain and whose life is constantly in danger, just to further our cause? I might, if forced to.
You might wonder what brought on this absurd idea. Nothing, really. It’s just that today, while listening to Simply Red, my mind and my imagination went haywire when out of the blue the thought of not being able to hear another song again struck me.
Scary.
fleeting passions 