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"Every bird is born with wings but not every bird is taught to fly, because not every bird is eager to live."
𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚
Once upon a time, the world surrendered its freedom to The Reestablishment, a grand bargain sealed with the currency of hope. People traded their dreams for the illusion of safety, expecting a return that never materialized. The transaction was starkly unbalanced-a ledger filled with promises unkept, ambitions snuffed out like candles in the wind.
We paid dearly, not with gold or silver, but with the essence of what makes us human.
Freedom. The word itself now seems almost mythical, a relic from a bygone era when individuals believed they could shape their destinies. We were seduced by the idea that relinquishing our liberties would forge a better world, but the outcome has been a stark contrast.
The philosophers once spoke of the social contract, a mutual agreement where individuals surrender certain liberties to gain the protection and benefits of a state. Rousseau, in his wisdom, argued that man must relinquish some freedoms to be governed, to live within the order of a society.
Rousseau's philosophy echoes in my mind, a cruel irony now that we stand in the ruins of what could have been a state. Rousseau spoke of giving up our natural freedom to gain civil freedom, to form a social contract that would protect us all. But what we have now is no state-only a void where governance once stood, a barren wasteland of broken promises and shattered lives.
Now, his books are on the burning list. Banned for us. Curious.
Here we are, living in the ruins of that philosophy. We gave up our freedoms, not for the establishment of a state, but for the illusion of security. And now, paradoxically, we find ourselves without either freedom or any type of security.
They traded our liberties for their governance, and in doing so, they stripped away the humanity they claimed to protect. The irony is almost too bitter to swallow.
Freedom, it seems, was always an impossibility for our generation. Born into a world already fractured, we never tasted the liberty that our ancestors might have known. It was always just beyond our grasp, an ideal that shimmered on the horizon, taunting us with its unattainability. We grew up under the shadow of control, our spirits slowly eroded by the relentless grind of oppression.
And yet, in the quiet corners of our hearts, a spark of longing persists-a stubborn ember that refuses to die.
The part that makes us humans is still wanting to fight.
264 days.
She has been locked up for 264 days.
My eyes inevitably drift back to the screen. To Juliette. She is a living testament to the paradox of freedom.
