You've been down that road before Neo...

If you recall the scene with the above quote, then you already know what I'm talking about. For some reason, this scene out of all the Matrix films stands out to me on so many levels. On the surface, it's Neo at a cross-roads in his life--he has a choice to make: going down the road he's already & always been on, a dismal path to the mundane life as a cog in the giant machine, or to break away from the old & embrace the challenges before him and explore the unknown possibilities with his newly-made friends. It's the choice between what is comfortable & known, and what is fresh, exciting, and possible.

In contrast to Cipher, who eventually chooses the taste of a juicy steak that he knows is only real in his mind, Neo embraces the road less traveled into the great unknown. The harsh reality of what is actually "real life" is not all he expected it to be-a world in which the survivors of the war between machine and mankind live in ships, spending most of their time eating mush, wearing wool, & hiding from the relentless machines that seek to destroy them. Not too glamorous, except for when they can dress themselves up like pimps & gangsta's in the matrix program.

I know I'm preachin' to the choir on this one, at least for those of you who've seen this movie countless times on TNT or DVD, so you already know all that I've told you here. For me, the application of this scene & movie is universal-we make choices like this every single day, and it seems like most of them look more like Cipher than Neo, and that's what kills me the most. I think we constantly plug into the machine, take the road we've always traveled in despair, and seldom step out of the rain and close the door to that familiar street we call life.

Apply this to your life where you will-I only know that I want to be Neo so many times, and end up like Cipher at the dinner table with Mr. Anderson instead. When you try to fight against the system, you've basically made the choice to isolate yourself from the mainstream, take the more difficult and much less traveled path, and the only glamour you'll probably ever see will be in your dreams or eternity. That might sound fatalistic, but I think it's usually reality. There are exceptions, but that's my take.