Blog post #9 The Deliberate Code: Choosing Humanity in an Indifferent Universe
The worldview in my fiction is stripped of romance: the cosmos is a massive, uncaring machine. In Things Not Meant to Be Seen, the primordial forces (whether Androg’s absolute indifference or Abaddon’s calculated chaos) do not care about human tears, virtue, or fairness. They are systems running on cold equations.
Yet, the way I choose to walk through this life is the exact opposite of that void.
When the world around you is harsh, you have two choices: let the coldness dictate who you become or forge a personal code so unshakeable that the environment cannot corrupt it. My personal ideology was not handed to me through privilege; it was collected piece by piece.
There are three distinct guides whose examples provided me with the blueprints for how I wanted to live a life with intention and purpose.
1. Jesus Christ: The Standard of Radical Empathy
Growing up in an underprivileged home with a young, single mother, I immersed myself in scripture… not for dogma, but to find a blueprint for character. What I took from the example of Jesus was a standard for dealing with people:
Protecting the vulnerable: Refusing to join the mob and challenging the self-righteous to cast the first stone.
Radical association: Actively choosing to sit with the overlooked and marginalized rather than pandering to the powerful.
Patience and temperance: Understanding that true strength lies in restraint and service, even when it demands personal sacrifice.
In an uncaring world, choosing empathy is not weakness; it is an act of defiance.
2. Naruto Uzumaki: The Power of Unyielding Self-Belief
Discovering Naruto as a teen not only gave me a mirror for my own early feelings of isolation, ridicule, and being an outcast, but also gave me a guidepost on how to navigate the circumstances of being born into a hostile world with traps and adversities designed for your life before you even discover yourself. The lessons were not about fantasy; they were about the psychology of endurance and perseverance:
Rejecting external hatred: Refusing to let other people’s low expectations and hostility poison your internal identity.
The genius of hard work: Knowing that discipline and resilience can overcome natural disadvantages.
Unyielding conviction: Believing in your own worth long before the world ever validates it.
When society treats you like an afterthought, you must become the anchor of your own existence.
3. Robert Smalls: Strategic Agency and Self-Determination
Discovering Robert Smalls in my twenties revolutionized my identity as a Black American. Smalls escaped slavery by commandeering a Confederate warship, liberating his family and crew. He convinced Abe Lincoln to allow Freed Slaves to join the Union Army, and later authored legislation for free public education. His life proved a vital truth:
Nothing is given: Progress, dignity, and freedom are never passive gifts handed down by grace; they are seized through tactical brilliance, intelligence, and critical thinking.
Collective liberation: Real freedom means creating a pathway for others to rise with you, rather than just securing your own safety.
Uncompromising agency: You are not merely a product of your circumstances; you have the power to bend your trajectory through calculated action.
Living the Paradox
The clash between my fiction and my life comes down to one truth: the world may be a cold, indifferent system, but you do not have to be...We all have agency.
You do not defeat chaos by becoming cynical. You defeat it by deciding that your integrity, your empathy, and your commitment to the people around you are non-negotiable. The universe might operate on raw physics and probability, but our humanity is the one variable we get to define.
