THE AGE AND THE CAGE

(This piece is the second in a series titled “Freedom” on the network.)

We’re living in an age of unfinished battles.
We always have been.
There are only two possible outcomes of these unfinished battles – freedom or oppression – in some form – absolute or partial.

As inhabitants of this age, we have a choice to make; as did our ancestors whose decisions influenced and determined the freedom or restrictions we experience today.
Our History has brought us far.
And our Present has us receding into lower, lesser, foolish, insensitive, narrow beings.
It is ironic, it is harsh.
But here’s what it also is: True.

Generally, the truth frees.
Ours is a realization of The Cage we have built around ourselves to make our lives darker and tougher and our livelihoods harder to attain.

The Cage is:
The false narratives we allow ourselves to hear, tell, spread and thereby, sustain. Surrounded by falsehoods, we become them. Those of us that don’t or haven’t as yet, have a few revelations to make. Break out!

The Cage is also:
The alienation of those of us who have a voice and a presence from those who go invisible and unaccounted for because of the professions they decide to pursue, the privileges (or lack of) they are born into – the accidents of birth we will never be able to justify – and hence, their perceived status.

The Cage is:
The criminalization of acts that are far from wrong.

The Cage is also:
The inability of victims to seek redress when they have been wronged.

The Cage is:
Our unwillingness to help when we can.

The Cage is also:
Our inability to help when we are willing to.

Our Freedom in this Age is hinged on how many cages we acknowledge and unlock;
How many we flee from;
How many we tear down.

If we could choose which cage to tackle first,
If we had to free one segment of society – long suppressed, oppressed, vilified and denied,
We would pick sex workers.

Their work is work.
And that, to us, is all that matters.

(This piece may continue into a conversation between Jabir and Nala on The Homemaker since countless women have turned to sex work, out of helplessness, to run their homes. Wait, while we debate over the possibilities, as a team. “FREEDOM” has only just begun.)

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