foreign emotions

What shall I think? What shall I do? --two things which are interrelated very closely. What use is thought without action, or action without thought? In the beginning there was action and then came thought. Now I need action. It has been a long time since I have done anything but think. Thought after thought, and no action comes from any of this. Now I can think no more. What good is all my thinking without action? I am not alone in this world. I almost feel as if I don't have the right to think further before I have done something. It is as if a voice within me were saying, "You have no right to think while your body is at rest." But what can I do? I am hemmed in on all sides, like a bird in a cage. Where should I go? Where should I turn? Every day that I am idle I feel pain inside of me. I have already tried a few things, but none of them helped. There are always my parents, who by their excessive watchfulness hinder my every act and accomplishment. Thus I am imprisoned on all sides, and time is ceaselessly running out, and I can do nothing.

-Moshe Flinker