Thanks, Mary Ann, for that great response! And you got Andy’s poem precisely right: it’s all about allowing ourselves to be “caged” by our desires, our ambitions, our circumstances, our possessions, ~versus~ FREEDOM.
And it is ~TRULY~ a choice.
Bob Dylan (whom I consider to be one of the best poets of the 20th century) wrote: “FREEDOM’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Think about it. Shakespeare makes a comment about the opposite extreme, in Henry the Fourth, when he writes, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
Life is one unending (as long as we live) series of tradeoffs. We must choose every moment between the lessor of two evils ~and~ the greater of two goods. Every time we do so, we implicitly value one thing over another—money, wealth, power over FREEDOM, for example. Or the opposite: FREEDOM over money wealth, power. Or security over freedom—or the opposite.
The “ideal” life would be one in which we can have ~both~: FREEDOM (living as we CHOOSE, all of the time) and fame, security, financial independence, etc. Andy Kaufman was the best example of having lived this life as anybody I can think of. He CHOSE to spend his life doing what he was born to do (FREEDOM), no matter ~what~ the consequence. And he was fortunate enough to have financial independence and fame, too. But if he'd been forced to chose one over the other, I am POSATIVE that he would have chosen FREEDOM. That's a major part of what draws me to him.
And we are the beneficiaries. Both because of the incredible art he left for us to enjoy, and because of the example he provided.
PS I'm feeling much more posative today. The emotional stormclouds have parted, and have been replaced by a rainbow.