What the heck? … A Rat Cage??
Stick with me!
Being a Man
Being a man is all about handling your business, no matter which way your life takes you.
Handling yourself in the best way that you possibly can in the circumstances that you find yourself… while also taking responsibility for what got you into your current circumstances in the first place.
Stop Blaming Other People
Blaming others is a dangerous game, first of all, it makes you look weak - like you can’t handle your own problems so you pass the buck onto someone else.
Besides other people’s impressions of you after passing the buck, blaming others also causes you to lose power.
When you blame, you lose ownership. You get out of the hot seat by pushing the responsibility onto someone else… but in doing so you lose the power to fix the issue yourself.
If you take the blame, brunt, and criticism for a situation that you find yourself in, then you are wearing the rat cage.
Wear the Rat Cage - 1984
For those of you that haven’t read or watched George Orwell’s 1984, then exit now because there is a spoiler ahead:
In 1984, a man is pushed to the brink by one of his captors. He is forced to wear a medieval torture device that is a cage of rats attached to your face like a baseball catcher’s mask.
The captor attaches the Rat Cage to the man’s face with hungry, gnawing at the bit, rats just inches away from the man’s face.
The captor just has to open a single door between the man’s face and the rats and his face would be eaten immediately.
Seconds before the captor opens the cage door the man breaks and scream’s out “DO IT TO JULIA, I BEG OF YOU, DO IT TO ANYONE BUT ME. PLEASE!!”
Julia was the man’s first and only true love that was also being held captive.
Instead of handling himself and sacrificing himself, he put his only love in harms way.
The next time he saw Julia, she said she had sold him out too.
Their relationship was never the same, they had totally broken all trust and connection, leaving the relationship torn forever.
Take Away
You might never be faced with an actual Rat Cage, but think about times in your life where you pass your pain to others by blaming and not accepting your mistakes and handling them.
The pain and fear you have is nowhere near the pain of having your face eaten alive by rats, but you still need to handle your emotions and… Be a Man, Wear the Rat Cage
- S.T. Teller