Response to Polly Wants a Cracker

                                             Polly Want a Cracker

Have you ever given a parrot a cracker just because it asked for it? In the course of my short life I have met and seen many Pollys.  Many people love the idea of having things handed to them without having to think or work hard.  A majority of them just simply repeat what they hear and see.  I have met people that aren’t willing to take a step forward in their lives.  Pollys continue a cycle that seems never ending.  It’s like a transmissible disease that won’t stop infecting generation after generation.  It seems that people that are born in that cycle were born to stay in that cycle. Do they have a say in this, or is this a reflection of their surroundings?

In my country it is very common to see a variety of Pollys.  I’ve seen people that are similar to the guy in the story “Polly Want a Cracker”. They rather memorize the answers than to engage themselves of knowing the process of getting them.  Another example of a Polly is when numerous parents hand anything to their children that they demand.  Many of their children get bad-tempered if they are denied what they want and desire, but they don’t stop to think that in the long run the only one this continuous behavior is going to affect is the child.  In my opinion, most people that are given everything don’t have the satisfaction of what it feels like to achieve a goal or follow a dream.   What’s more satisfying than when you work hard and when sweat drips down your forehead for what you’ve earned?

Yet again, why should we think and study?  If in some occasions all we have to do is memorize, why should we work?  The government gives you everything these days: food, medical insurance, housing, etc.  So why kill yourself working for so many years?  This is the most common Polly there is.  It bothers me to see people that have no interests other than getting up from their couch, walking towards the mail box, and receiving the monthly check from the government.  I can’t describe how this irritates me.  I can understand those people that are trying to do something with their lives; people that are actually working and studying, but still need a helping hand.  I understand those people with conditions that require medical aid because they have no one in their lives to help them.  On the other hand those people that don’t do anything, people that keep having children so the government can take care of them, are the people that should receive less help or none at all.  These are just a few reasons I don’t think it’s fair for those who are trying to become somebody in this world.

I know a handful of people that have realized their mistakes in life and have decided to turn their lives around. They knew that they were not going to get far in life.  They knew that the only thing that was waiting for them was failure, regret, and remorse.  Thank God there are people that do realize it sooner rather than later; just like the kid in the story who realized that we live only once and we have to take the advantages and opportunity that life gives us.  I wish there were more people like him. I think there should be more people like him, but reality is another story.  It takes courage and will power to change. It’s not an easy process and it takes time, but at the end it’s worth it. The kid in the story took him until sophomore year to realize that if he kept cheating himself he wasn’t going to conquer his optimal goal.  He mentions the process of how he plucked his feathers and freed himself from that cycle. Like in the story, he freed himself from his cage.

I have a special friend that I admire truly.  All through his life he was surrounded by these Pollys. He lived in one of the worse projects in my country; a place where a lot of high school drop outs joined the life of drugs and gangs.  The drugs were everywhere. It was something you could not hide; something that wasn’t uncommon there.  My friend was stronger and he knew that kind of life wasn’t going to lead him anywhere.  He knew that if he ever joined that kind of life he would’ve end up in jail or dead.  He dedicated most of his time to studying and later on he accomplished his Bachelor’s Degree in psychology.  Isn’t that a beautiful thing?  Isn’t that something to be proud of?  He is now finishing his Master’s Degree, he got out of the projects, and most of all he freed himself of becoming another Polly.  If people just understood that with a little effort and dedication they can go a long way, this world would be a better place.