We know what they are like. We have seen them all before. Their kind. So sure, so set in their ways. Those who feel they have the right to instruct, to prescribe. We should do this, be like that, live like they do. By their rules.

If only their example was worth following, maybe we might listen.

But you know how it is. Advice as a form of bullying. Lectures in the guise of concern. Fear and uncertainty exported as threat and control. You had better…or else.

Or else what? Disown us?

What if we were better off that way? Free from the example of their ruin. Their addictions and habitual cruelties. Maybe we no longer require the instruction of their bitterness. Why should we carry the baggage they are so keen to offload?

Let them live as they will. Do as they do, speak as they speak. But let us not cower in that hefty shadow. Let us dwell instead in the folly of our own making, rather than reconstruct theirs. If we are to fail, let it be in the pursuit of our own dreaming. For love, for liberty, I will accept damnation – but for their hollow approximations I would rather not shed a drop.

There will always be bullies; those who claim to know better, see further. They will have names for us, as we will for them. Yet, while they will build us a prison, we will let them go. They will mark the difference as weakness, claim it as victory. The trophy is theirs. Ready for a lifetime of dust.

Sweep it out. Let the air in. Clean the floors with sunlight.

I will not pretend we have it all mapped out. Neither shall I claim the higher ground. We are frail and flawed, as they are. Therefore…do not fight them. Do not buckle. Do not stay.

We know they will not change; not while we remain. So let us walk away. To change ourselves. To excise our addictions. The kingdom is not worth the price of a flag. The exiles may do as they please.

You know where the door is. So do I. Such a simple thing. What are we waiting for? Only the moment. Which is all it takes.

One day they may wonder how it happened. With a choice, we may say. Right or wrong, good or bad. Leave them all behind.