Is there a Walter White in all of us?

A boring Sunday afternoon and the TV remote in my hand. What do I do? I start flipping channels. And I flip channels with no interest I see an advertisement of an upcoming TV Sitcom “Breaking Bad”. The advertisement posed questions about the sins we commit in our lives. These sins may not be seen as major sins but little sins that we commit such as bucking a class or cheating on an exam but what happens when this sin becomes your alter ego?

The captivating concept of sin and our ability to accept it is what framed the male protagonist Walter White. A High school chemistry teacher who could reach the heights of his academic pursuits was not seen worthy of the accolades and appreciation. And he spent his life in teaching kids right from wrong. How can a chemist trained in crystallography make it big in a short time? He cooks and sells the purest meth in the world. Being diagnosed of stage IIIA lung cancer Walter chooses the road that seems profitable to him. To keep his family secured and provide financial support, he turns into a drug lord.

“La Famalia Es Todo”, don’t turn against your family no matter what. This is one of Walter White’s most famous quotes. Every one is very prompt at pointing fingers and reasoning their actions. Walter White’s reason was his family. But as the series progresses he starts to do it for himself, because he likes it. He confesses to his wife that he kept on with the drug business because he felt alive. The cancer that spread in his lungs made him feel alive and finally when he received acclaim from being a drug lord that what he chose to be.

Certain experiences in our lives change us, sometimes we have to take such decisions and sometimes these decisions take us. Either ways we are influenced by an entity that demands to change us. The change might be minor and slow or major and drastic, but we choose, we choose whether or not to associate with it. A person who feels neglected can often have an alter ego which he/she chooses to hide behind. The façade of being something your not is not an unfamiliar concept.

We all at some point make decisions which affect us, maybe to make extra money, maybe to gain false appreciation or to saved a loved one but in the end we do it for ourselves. Under dire circumstances we all turn to unfair means because they guarantee you easy results, and that is where we loose ourselves. The society binds us in chains of lawfulness and righteousness but when the going get tough, we break these chains and we do what is not expected out of us by the society. White did what he could do best, cook meth. But cooking meth is illegal, so even if we excel in a field are suppose to turn it down because the society doesn’t approve it? So what if we break bad and do something that society doesn’t really agree to? Most of us tend to look for answers in the faces of others and try to reason our actions. To prove that we did it for a reason.

Walter White had his reasons but what’s you’re threshold for breaking bad?

Tanya