Caged

Wild animals aren’t meant to be controlled. Their instincts tell them to run from danger- to run from us. It’s in their nature to attack when threatened. Yet somehow we’ve managed to neutralize this behavior, and we’ve allowed ourselves to intrude on the animal’s habits in order to domesticate them.

Cages have become their habitats, predators have become their caretakers. We have taught them to accept their lives cornered in a box.

And most of them do.

But there’s always that one who won’t tolerate being jailed, one who would rather fight a threat than conform to it.

I’m that animal, the dog who tells off his keeper, the horse who bucks his rider, the circus tiger who attacks his ringmaster.

I won’t comply to your ways, and I won’t go down without a fight. You’ve trapped me in this life for far too long, and I’m done. It’s time I retaliate.

Who’s the overlord now?

We’re both predators, but the I guess the bigger question is, who is stronger? The master who believes his animal is tame, or the caged beast who has silently endured a tortured life?