freedom

                A single drop of water awoke me from my otherwise peaceful sleep. I tried to raise my hands to wipe my eyes but there was some type of restraint preventing me. As I became more conscience, I noticed there was some type of cold heavy apparatus about my neck. I tried to look around to figure out where I was, as I was in strange, unrecognizable territory. As I couldn’t twist my head, I looked forward and saw some type of distorted silhouettes flickering and swaying. I heard voices around me and figured that I wasn’t the only one here.

                As time passed, I became accustomed to my surroundings and became comfortable with them. This once strange and alien place soon became my home and I liked it. I felt as if I was covered by a veil of some sort, a warm, comforting veil that left me with no worries. Whenever a new object appeared before us, we would all come to a consensus to what it was. Anyone who disagreed would be ridiculed by the rest. Conformity became the norm; we lived day in and day in that same spot.

                One day something strange happened. A man came down to our little enclave and began urging us to leave. He told us that there was a world outside of this one, a grandiose world where everything is “colorful” and “vivid”. The images we saw in front of us were only poor distorted misrepresentations of what was really there. He told us that we could break free from these “fetters” that held us back, that they were only mentally there. The rest of the inhabitants looked at him strangely and scoffed at these ideas. You could see the frustration on his face that resulted from the futility of his attempts to convince us that there was much more to this.

I became conflicted; something inside of me told me to follow this man. I began to feel a sensation that I had never felt before, a sensation to fight conformity and to explore. I realized how monotonous life here had become. But the comfort of my home and the fear of the unknown prompted me to stay. I fought the temptation to follow the strange man as long as I could, but soon the temptation defeated me. I was set on exploring the outside, the unknown. With some strain, I was able to raise my arms and prop myself up. The restraints were broken! I was finally able to be out and about and to look around. I noticed that the place that I had called home for as long as I can remember was a dark, dank cave.

The man’s eyes lit up when he saw me get up. The others’ facial expressions turned aghast with a combination of fear and amazement. They didn’t believe it was possible. I left them with their mouth ajar as I followed my guide up the stop steps on the side of where we were prior. As we ascended the steps, I noticed that there was some type of light that cackled bright colors and felt warm when we drew near it. In front of it, men paraded sticks with figures on them, casting the images we saw and accepted as the real thing. In the distance I saw a tunnel of light and it drew me closer; it seemed to have been calling me. At this point, I began to race up the steps making sure not to lose sight of this precious gleam. As I had not used my legs for as long as I could remember, I stumbled a bit on the way up.

I broke through the darkness and into the blinding light. I shielded my eyes from the intensity but soon I became adjusted. At that moment, I was flooded with new, strange sights. Everything was so vibrant and vivid; I was finally free. The sheer awe of my surroundings made me drop to my knees and my eyes just became inundated with what I later came to know as tears. These sweet, salty droplets of water that originated from my eyes kept on coming without refrain. It was all just so beautiful. Everything around me, from the creatures up above, to the soft grass that hugged and caressed my body as I laid there and wept. I finally had my first taste of true freedom.

The freedom was overwhelming. Simply put, the real world was frightening. The monotony of conformity and life in the cave ceased to exist, and with it also died the veil of ignorance that once cradled me and protected me. I was no longer in my comforting cave. At times, I just wanted to return, to live a simpler, worry free life. But the freedom, the reality, the immaculateness of it all convinced me to stay. I was finally able to experience things for myself. I was finally… free.