The Smoke-Filled House

When in a smoke-filled house, there are steps a concerned person would take almost immediately. Unless you were asleep or were so much of a smoker that it did not bother you, your instinct would be to get out of it, right? When you did decide to leave, there would first be a bit of an anxiety, over not only getting through the smoke but of also what might be waiting for you outside. "There could be bears or even a cliff just beyond that door" you might think. Then there is the challenge of finding your way to the exit while in that state of fear. Once you do open the door and allow your eyes to adjust to the light, there is that period of coughing and discharging of the mucus built up from living inside a smoke-filled house. But you are then able to breath deeper and see more of the world around you. You realize how bad it was for you to remain inside a smoke-filled house and you go on to live a much happier, healthier life. Some people, however, stay inside the smoke-filled house and never bother to see much of the outside. The smoke-filled house becomes their world and they are perfectly fine with that. Depending on their situation, they either benefit at the expense of others or become one of the majority who grow accustomed to breathing shallow, coughing constantly and living uncomfortably inside a smoke-filled house. For many, it becomes a game of survival and those who last longer become ever more boastful players. They flex mere fact that they have outlived those who succumb to living inside the smoke-filled house. It become a badge of honor and subsequently part of the identity of the people inside the smoke-filled house. Mind you, none of people who live inside the smoke-filled house are being held there against their will. This is something they themselves do willingly or out of fear of the unknown. Meanwhile, the person who has left and is looking in from the outside can see that there is so much more to life than living inside a smoke-filled house and they try to warn those inside. But so many have become too dependent on the smoke-filled house to leave the smoke-filled house. Some even make silly faces against the windows from the inside, calling out nonsense names like "outsider" and "fresh air breather". That is not to say that there are not people inside the smoke-filled house that try to make it better by bringing attention to the situation inside the smoke-filled house. They decry the history of the owners, the quality of the air and especially those causing the problem for sake of profit. They stand against the blinded masses who appeal to the authority of their talking heads, who in turn hold captive the sickened and defeated under threat of making their life inside the smoke-filled house even more unbearable. These contentious, yet brave souls have to contend with those who grow so addicted to the conditions that they actually protect the smoke-filled house while fighting against those who establish control over those weakened by the toxicity of the smoke-filled house. These so-called leaders, who are causing the smoke begin to introduce filtration and ventilation methods while taxing every one of the tenants inside the smoke-filled house. Those who cannot pay are kept in the most congested and isolated of rooms. Eventually, these people rise up against those who took advantage of the situation and a fire then consumes the smoke-filled house. One would think that this would prompt everyone to evacuate, but no, some people refuse to abandon the smoke-filled house. "They will go down with the ship" and extinguish the fire while laying among its ashes. Instead of allowing the smoke-filled house to properly fall, they grow so far gone in the delusion of preserving the smoke-filled house that they'd rather die in the smoke-filled house than build a new one.