Pinky Promises

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

-Helen Keller

It was a turn of a page in an old scrapbook with paper that collected dust; it was a flashback sensation as if you are instantly transported back through time by a single moment. The words in permanent black marker read, "I pinky swear." Just like that, I was sent back to reality with those words permanently drawn on the paper and in my mind. It was that feeling of knowing those few words could mean so much and not even come true. This got me thinking about how I hold promises so high and mighty; this got me questioning the reason why.

It's phrases like "pinky promises" or "double-dog dares", we add supplementary words to a word itself to emphasize its very definition, as if the addition of words will reassure the definition itself. The thing about reassurance is that it is comforting and yet unnecessary. The thing about reassurance is it is like security. And the thing about security is that no one can truly attain it. Security is imaginary. It is this idea that we wrap into our minds to keep us together. But the truth of the matter is that no one can give a person reasons to keep themselves together except himself. And if security is real, it would happen through the means of opportunities that we take and where those opportunities guide us. Lastly, the thing about opportunities is that they are hazardous and yet thrilling. And unlike security, opportunities can "promise" you that you will discover whatever answer you are in search of. Maybe I just contradicted myself, because if you ask me, unfolding the answers you were looking for may be the greatest form of security a person could ever hold.

I pinky promise I never contradict myself.

I pinky promise that you should not hold security to that.

And I pinky promise you should give in to the opportunity of finding out if my pinky promises can be fulfilled or not.