The Golden Rule

I grew up in a society where you cannot make your own decisions. It was a rule made thousands of years ago to hopefully “improve society”. My parents call it “The Golden Rule”. In my opinion, this rule is awful and shouldn’t be a rule. However, there is absolutely nothing I could do about it. Let me go more in depth about the golden rule.

When you are a little kid, your parents make all your decisions. As you get into your teenage years, you get assigned a “decision maker”. 

A “decision maker”, hence the name, makes all your decisions. These decision makers are trained to make the decisions that the government and our parents would expect of us. The “decision makers” are boring people who don’t even communicate with you. They are just there to make your decisions. 

You lose your “decision maker” when you are finished with college. At college, it is required that you take a class that teaches you how to make the “right” decisions. The college classes, according to my sister, brainwashes you into doing the “right” thing. That's why she left college and, somehow, got rid of her decision maker. 

After college, you can make any decision you would like. However, you cant really they just want you to think that. They still manage to make decisions for you without you being aware of it. It's crazy but it's true and has been proven. 

I’ve been silently thinking about making my own decision for quite some time now. So what happens if you make your own decision? You die? You go to prison? Nobody knows because nobody has ever tried or succeeded. Which is crazy hard to believe because c’mon, teenagers. Teenagers want to make their own decisions, they want freedom, they rebel against everyone's rules. It's just how the teenage brain works. I refuse to believe that nobody has tried so I did some research of my own. 

I started online but there wasn’t much except “If you try to break the rules of the government, the consequences are severe”,  but nothing clarifies exactly what the consequences would be. After my failed research online, I headed to the library. Surprisingly, I found a very large book about the golden rule from how it started to consequences to breaking the rule. I requested to check out the book but the librarian said it’s not one of the library books and has no return address so I can keep it if I please. Oh by the way, my decision maker thinks I’m at school, while in the classroom the decision makers go elsewhere. 

I returned to school and no one found out about my trip to the library. When I got home, I did a lot of reading and note taking. I began to understand the rule but I still thought it was dreadful. 

After tons of reading, I found out there was once a kid who went against the rules. They got in a lot of trouble and were never heard of again. People say that they changed their name and physical appearance and they still roam around town making their own decisions. Others say they were executed immediately. What really happened to the kid is a complete mystery. 

I finished reading the book and began to really think about what could have possibly happened to the kid who broke the rule. There's no way it's just a complete mystery, nothing really is. Somebody has to know. 

I talked to my sister about the book and she said that the person who committed the crime of making their own decisions still lives in this town. They live in a tiny house in the middle of the woods and they aren't allowed to see anybody unless someone goes to visit. The problem with that is nobody knows about this person so they don't have any visitors. Rumor has it, their parents think that they are dead. According to my sister, they haven't gotten any visitors in 26 years and have been locked in the house for 42 years and they committed the crime at the age of 17.

“So should we go visit?” I asked my sister, “I mean, I have so many questions and really want-”

“Whoa, slow down. This person, for all we know, could have passed or gone clinically insane by now,” She replied, “They haven't had any visitors in years and have been sitting in a tiny, one room house with nothing to do except stare at the blank walls.”

“Do you even know where the house is?”

“I do not, but listen here, breaking the rule and making your own decisions is a dangerous move. I know you well enough to know that you will be breaking the rule. Be safe alright?”

“Got it.”

“And don’t do anything extremely dumb. My little sis can’t get locked up.” She said as she lightly giggled. 

I stayed up all night thinking of what I would be doing to break the rule. I could attempt to get away from my decision maker and do stuff on my own or I could completely ignore my decision maker and make my own decisions. Whatever I chose, I had to make sure I was smart about it so I don’t get sent away.

*

“I NEED HELP!” I yelled over the phone with my sister on the other end, “MEET ME AT THE ABANDONED GAS STATION ON WALLOWS STREET IN 10 MINUTES PLEASE!” 

“Whoa whoa, what did you do?” 

“I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW,” I said, as I was sprinting away from what I believe to be a cop car. My legs aching from running and my lunges burning as if there was no oxygen left in teh atmosphere. My feet felt as if they were going to give out.  “JUST MEET ME THERE!”

I could clearly see the gas station ahead of me. My legs were burning so bad I thought I would never make it. The cop cars started catching up to me and my legs started slowing down. Going to the gas station with the cops behind me would be pointless so I took a left on the street just ahead of me. 

The street had quite a few old apartment buildings, all lined up next to each other. In between the buildings were alleys. The perfect hiding spot. 

I ran into one of the several alleys and hid behind a dumpster. It was around 4 feet away from a fence so I hid within the small gap. I sat down to try to catch my breath when I saw the police cars pass by the alley. Seeing this sight filled my body with relief. 

I called my sister to let her know the change of plans, “Alright, listen. I’m hiding behind a dumpster between apartment buildings. Don’t go to the gas station. I’ll let-”

“What apartments? I’m picking you up right now and taking you somewhere safe.” She said with a bit of worry in her voice.

“No, its too dangerous. The police are near. I’ll call you in a minute.” I hung up the phone, put it in my pocket and stood up and peaked out the side of the dumpster. Nobody was there. I got out from behind the dumpster when the cars pulled into the alley. I was internally freaking out, there was no way out now. 

I went behind the dumpster to text my sister and tell her what was about to happen. I leaned against the fence and began to cry. It was over. 

I could hear the police get out of their cars and start yelling at me to come out from behind the dumpster with my hands up. Just as I was about to do so, someone broke the fence behind me. I turned to see my sister behind me.

“C’MON! IM SAVING YOU! GET IN THE CAR,” My sister yelled, “HURRY!”

I turned around and saw the police running towards the dumpster with their guns up. The three of us sprinted to the car and drove off as fast as we could. I could see the police get back into their cars and drive off rather quickly.

Once we got far, far away from the police and the town we once called home, I began to ask questions. 

“How did you find me?” 

“Find My IPhone. It’s useful for times like these.” She replied while laughing. “Explain everything you did. I never thought I would be helping my sister run away from the cops!”

She wasn’t mad about what I did and just laughed about it. She told me that we were going to a different state where her friend was letting us stay at her house for some time. It would take us two days to get there. The place we were going has no decision makers and we will be free to do whatever we want. Sounded like paradise to me!