Living Limitations
by Tanya Liscio
There are innumerable barriers that encase the human body on planet earth; the differences lie in perspective and the boundaries of the mind. I, for one, am bound by the confines of gravity and inhospitable environments outside my 7 mile deep biosphere. The rays of a blazing sun would cause my skin to melt and ooze off my bones, the forces of gravity would squeeze my cranial sutures until the gray matter speckles my inner sanctum, and the oxygen deficit would suck the life from my deflated lungs. All are relative to my planetary confines.
Other, more realistic, captors lurk closer to the surface. There are mechanical and physical confines of travel, such as great metallic, winged birds, or pseudo metal and polycarbonate capsules propelled by oil burning explosions and greasy, black rubber trajectories, and the enormously stout and aerodynamic hulled vessels that carve the sea like a hot knife through butter. An ever present reminder that I am bound to this little neighborhood of the earth.
Even closer to home is my home, which is 10 feet away from another gray, concrete barricade and splintered wooden shield. This, of course, encourages confinement and solitude. The enticing view of lush, green forests and endless footpaths of red, billowy, dust, taunt me from the other side of a flawless, shard of hardened silica. I am bound to my house. This is where I can be safe and warm. I am protected from danger.
Perhaps, the greatest barriers are placed in my mind. The visual and sensory inputs absorbed by the gelatinous spheres and the cartilage coils, send my neurons the electricity of life. Depending on the environmental influences, genetic coding, and frequency of messages, I could barricade myself with the boundaries of genetics. I could listen to my inner critic who tells me constantly: “You can’t do [that], you’re a girl,” “girls aren’t any good at math and science,” and “how could you possibly be a doctor? You have kids to raise.” Or, I could choose to burst free of the chains entangling my mind, and raise my cerebrum above the pool of idle distraction. I can stomp through the walls that imprison my being and spirit; I can set myself free. Imagine that. I can choose to live a boundless life and pass on my genetic and mental fitness to my offspring. And, in that, I imagine, I can remove the history of barriers that have tried to come between me and my life’s purpose and make the greatest contribution of all.