You Are a Lock… How Many Keys Can Open You?
By Zouhair Mahmoud
When we look at an ordinary lock,
we find that it comes with one specific key
a single shape designed to match and unlock that lock alone.
We can make ten identical copies of that key,
yet they all belong to one pattern
the same code that fits only this lock.
But there is another kind of lock
one that relies on rotating numbers, from zero to nine,
spinning through rings that may reach six or more.
Such a lock opens to endless possibilities,
from 000000 to 999999 —
a combination that is always shifting,
with no fixed key and no final state.
Now, imagine this image,
and project it onto us — human beings.
Each ring of that lock represents a factor that shapes our current state:
the body — with its hunger and fullness, health and sickness, rest and sleeplessness;
the age — with its memories and experiences;
the emotions — fear and joy, anxiety and sorrow;
and the nature of the self — swaying between narcissism and discipline, indifference and cruelty.
So, can one human being ever truly say to another:
“I completely understand you”?
No two keys are ever identical,
not even in the case of conjoined twins who share one body.
And that, in truth, is the beauty of humanity
our diversity, our contradictions, our endless differences.
That is why we should not assume that others can ever fully understand us,
or feel our inner states exactly as we live them.
Yes, we are social creatures
but within each of us dwells a higher self,
a paradoxical force that always drives us to think of ourselves first,
even when we are deeply immersed in our feelings toward others.
Final Reflection
You are not a puzzle waiting to be solved,
but a living system of shifting codes
a lock whose key belongs to no one but you.
This is true freedom:
to acknowledge our complexity,
to embrace our contradictions,
and not to wait for someone else to unlock us,
but to learn how to open ourselves — from within.
