There Are No Shackles on Me

I feel that I've been chastised by a Broadway song. 

 

Let me explain.  Lately, there have been some things in my life that have made me decidedly unhappy.  Some of these things are completely beyond my control and will only be remedied by time and patience.  But others are completely under my control and I, for reasons unknown to even myself, have insisted on feeling helpless about them.

 

Anyway, my roommate said something the other day that reminded me of a song from the musical Aida.  And I started singing the song, only to discover she didn't recognize it all.  She's never heard the music.  So I resolved we would listen to Aida.

 

The two leads in Aida both feel like slaves.  Aida feels like a slave because she is one.   And Radames, the Egyptian who captures her, feels like he's a slave to his social position and the marriage expectations that come with it.

 

In the song "Enchantment Passing Through," Aida and Radames are talking about how they'd both like to sail away from their troubles.  How they would both be free if they could sail away.  Aida gets very angry when Radames implies to her that he, too, is enslaved.  She tells him, "If you don't like your fate, change it . . . You are your own master.  There are no shackles on you."

 

When I was introducing my roommate to this song, those lines felt like a slap in the face to me.  When it comes to parts of my future, I can't control them.  But when it comes to others, there are no shackles on me.  I'm free to change them.

 

And so I shall.