April 10 : But in the real world

We are not free.
Not at all, not even
a little bit. We cannot be.
Inside of us, perhaps
we have the possibility of being free
(and then, only as free as we let ourselves be)
but in the real world.

I talk of constrictions set by society
and boundries and limitations and
the place we are born in, I talk
of death and natural disaster, but
more than anything
I talk of the crisp green pieces
of paper and how freedom
(of walking and talking and
living and doing what you want
because you love it)
does not exist.

You can eat what you want
(if you can afford it)
and you can go wherever
(as long as it's within
your budget, ladies and gents)
and you can read and write
and you listen to what music you like
and you can have just as comfortable
a blanket as you wish you to sleep in
and you can have the freedom, too,
to explore your potential and learn
and fill up the spaces of what you can be
and achieve and give back to the world,
yes, you are free to do this
(oh wait a minute there).

And you can tell me that
I'm not as rich as Him or Her
but that doesn't stop me from
doing what I want and love and
will achieve because of determination.
And I agree. I don't want to work for money.
Money doesn't make you happy, I like
to think. Idealism. Philosophy. Morals.

But what of he who drinks
from a trickle of dirty water
what of her who can live only
by living in a cage and selling
all that she has apart from herself
- her body - and what of
her children, condemned,
who were born in a brothel
(and for what fault of their own)
and have no food for the day
and what of the father whose baby
died in his shriveled arms (curled up
right next to his broken heart)
and of the man who had to throw
his mother (how much he loved her)
out of his one-roomed house so
his children could live to see
a better day
what of he who freezes to death
wrapped in a blanket only
of frostbite and frozen tears
(while somewhere we sleep
with air conditioners on so high
so we can cuddle in thick velvet blankets
in the peak of summer, warmth)
what of them?

Maybe inside of them they are free
(I hope with all my heart that they are)
but in the real world.