fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Three Words that changed everything
By: Anna Cley
Tags: Utah, Books, Creativity, Freedom, Writing

“Why do you want to hide your story from your readers?”

It was my first and only meeting with my editor. She had just reviewed my script as I was finally ready for the last stage before submitting it to publishers. She gave me a lot to think about…

I had a vision of “The Journey of the Heart”, Mylandra and Unique, in March 2014, as I traveled alone in the deep winter of Canada. At first “The Journey of the Heart” was meant to be a show, but then, last year, I realized it was time to finish the story and adapt it to a book.

It took me almost seven years to decide how to end the tale. I needed to allow my own story to unfold. In fact, something else my editor said keeps ringing in my mind:

“Allow the story to come to you.”

Deep stuff here!

After this meeting with her, I allowed. I allowed myself to get out of the bushes of my metaphors and I allowed the story to come to me.

After all, I spent a lifetime pushing through the boxes set by my surroundings and by society. Who was I really? I was truly myself only when alone in nature. There, I was.

Mule deer at the top of a mountain, Utah, November 2020

Finishing and rewriting my book was painful and beautiful. I kept cracking the cages I put myself into in order to fit in and find my place in the world. I broke free.

Something happened then. I became the artist I was always meant to be. I became me. And by sharing my passion and my love for life, extraordinary opportunities presented themselves to me. I was offered to create and co-create, to take a stand in several companies.

It did not stop there. Mid-November, I submitted my final script to three publishers. That same week, I received two offers, including a contract ready to sign. The week preceding my submissions to these publishers, I allowed myself to intuitively draw graphics. I did so in a meditative state, giving myself the mental freedom to create. I did not know then that any of my writing or drawings had any value, I was only creating out of my own fire. They loved it!

The moral of the story is that I only found my place when I stopped looking for it. I lived my passion and then, my place found me.

So if I can offer only three words for you to keep close to your heart in 2021, here they are:

DARE. TO. BE.

May this be your 2021 resolution.
Butterfly Wings
By: Melanie J.
Tags: Haiku, Butterfly, Freedom, Poetry On Medium, Poetry

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
Stand Up, Child
By: Jen Payne
Tags: Poem, Racial Justice, Children, Freedom, Equality

Look, Child

See the color of my skin

But

Do not believe that is who I am

Instead

See me and listen for my story

Witness

Not the tone of my flesh

But the tone in my voice

As I speak my truth

Honestly

I try to live the words

I speak into the hearts of my

Children

I say

See the world in technicolor

Through rose-tinted frames

And clearly

See

When you look

You may find

Your way is blocked

Look past that place

Please

At the path that you have

Followed

See

The higher road

Even when the climb is hard

Child

See

The world for what it is

Full of people with their stories

People who will fight

For their truths

Who

Never stop looking for

Redemption

Child

Fight

Child

Be brave

Child

Stand up

Child
The Heart of a Warrior
By: Jamie Mcintosh
Tags: Heart, Relationships, Life, Freedom, Poetry

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
Paint Your Fence
By: Jen Payne
Tags: Poem, Marriage, Family, Freedom, Poetry

He is yours in all ways but one

It is you who bears his name and gave him children

You share his home and his bed (almost) every night
Kamu Tidak Harus Memaafkan. Kamu tidak memiliki keharusan untuk…
By: Nafa Aurellia
Tags: Memaafkan, Maaf, Forgiveness, Dendam, Freedom

She tries, learns, and writes
Now is the time…
By: Zaire Saunders
Tags: Freedom, Black Liberation, History

Now is the time for the Nation to look back, deep, into the vault that is our American history. To take a moment of genuine reflection into the structures of this country, as well as who the nation’s founders are. The murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and those who fell both before them, and,during the fight to protect their names, can and should not be forgotten. As a Black American who is a descendant of previously enslaved people here in America, it is of the utmost importance to me that we honor everyone’s freedom and right to exist. To let everyone walk freely down the street, to rest one’s body in their bed after a hard day of work. To live, laugh, and love. This country, since inception, has been built off the backs of a select few. Whether we are slaves or the working class, we must never forget that. We must never let go of who truly made this country what it is; African Slaves who labored hard for centuries and who have yet to receive any compensation, Native Americans who had their land and culture ripped away from them through genocide, Immigrants who were exploited and are still to this day, underpaid. Freedom is a constant struggle. And we all must make it our sworn duty to protect, uplift, and immortalize our fallen countrymen and women. It is our duty, as those who are willing to survive at all costs, to fight for all freedom. For everyone. This can only happen, I believe, if we can agree on our history — on what has all brought us here. If we can look back and grapple with the lack of justice, the lack of equity, and lack of agency over our bodies, and how that has led us to this very time in our history. Then, perhaps a full healing can be achieved. Perhaps we can see the day where the words, “Liberty and justice for all”, are not empty hallowed shells meant to impress us. But rather, a true statement that we all swear our lives to. The words should be a testament to the love we hold for each other. It should be a creed to live by that everyone strives to make true. Now and in the future. I hope we can learn our lesson as a nation soon. Too many lives have been at risk and will continue to be at risk until we do.
Free from the Mind Concepts of Society
By: Ruchi Thalwal
Tags: Freedom, Society, Love, Self, Poetry

Not a straightforward one

But many in subtle forms

During the formative years

The inequality between genders

was treated as a common natural occurrence

The lavish treatment of boys

in contrast to molding a girl’s mind into a slave

Burdening expectations on one

Ignoring the nuisance of other

I have seen resistance within me

Fighting hard in the extended family

Not for me but for others

whose voices got dwindled

The next barrier to break was religion

Unsaid inequality in unspoken words

It was not built in me, but I saw the discrepancy

Fearful minds creating obstacles

Forcefully shutting one’s eye

Fear can not define what the other is

where every heart is made of love

So what if the practices are different

So what if language and tradition are unknown

Without an open heart, how can we establish

And who are we to decide?

Thankfully, I never restricted myself

Loving and enjoying life as it comes

Like water, I have flowed and renewed

No beliefs established

No conditioning imprisoned

Experiencing life the way it comes

With an open heart, open mind

Nothing to judge

All I know that everything and everyone

deserves all the love

Living with the heart freed me

From the mind conceptual society

Opening the parachute of love

I flew higher and higher!
Do You Know That You Are Being Lied To?
By: Alexandre Porto
Tags: Strength, Lies, Society, Freedom, Social Media

Most people will never realize that they are being lied to.

In fact, the majority of humans cannot recognize truth anymore and are at a point where their minds have been so inundated with falsities, propaganda, and social programming that it has become difficult for them to discern what is real and what is not.

Many believe in an alternate reality constructed by mainstream media sources.

Unfortunately, these people are living in a false reality and the truth will not set them free. In fact, it only makes their reality harder to deal with because they feel that there is no escape from what they have been programmed for so long.

Yet the truth is far simpler than most people believe. All one has to do is remove themselves from society, turn off their TV, and disconnect from all social media outlets and news sources. Doing this will help them become more aware of what lies beyond the mainstream narrative.

Most people love to hear negative news stories about other people and they do not like hearing positive ones.

They prefer their own social media echo chambers in which they can discuss the latest bad things that are happening.

This is a phenomenon that has occurred as a result of social media and the fact that most people are not willing to do anything about it. They will instead prefer to complain on their Facebook page or Twitter feed while making sure they use trigger words like 'evil’, 'racist' and 'sexist’. This allows them to easily filter out anyone who disagrees with them.

The fact that most people are not willing to do anything about the state of society is a reflection of their own apathy and unwillingness to look beyond the established narrative. Instead, they prefer to live in an imaginary world where they feel as if they have some control over what happens.
The Caged Bird
By: A Rustic Mind, Manali Desai
Tags: Poem, Safety, Freedom, Birds, Poetry

Photo by Ojaswi Pratap Singh on Unsplash

The bird chose the cage and not the other way round

It liked the captivity inside rather than the freedom of the world around

It knows not how to escape and does not want to either

The cage is safe and secured but the outside offers neither

Unsure of what is out there and scared of it too

It prefers being a safe prisoner rather than being part of a lost crew.
I Want
By: Anwaya Mane
Tags: Galaxy, Iwant, Starrynight, Océan, Freedom

Photo by Shot by Cerqueira on Unsplash

I want the gushing winds, ruffling my hair;

I want salt on my lips, and some sparks in the air.

I want wings that take me to the skies;

I want to fly, with abandon, like a butterfly!

I want freezing waters from the glaciers, tickling my feet;

I want the cherry blossoms, kissing my skin, tender sweet.

I want the sun rays dancing on my melanin skin;

I want the sweet nectar of wild berries, trickling down my chin.

I want to sleep under the expansive galaxy;

I want to intertwine fingers with the special someone, in a magical alchemy.

I want to have chaos within me, to give birth of a dancing star.

I want to unrestraint, any chains of allure, near or afar.
Fettered Feathers
By: Isaiah Emuze
Tags: Nigeria, Life, Freedom, Mindset, Poetry

Dedicated to the Nigerian Northern young citizen that has been intentionally denied the opportunity to live their true potential through weaponized poverty and illitracy just to make them dependent and live for crumps when in truth, by their God given right they are meant to live a better life. I pray the North will rise and reject this status quo. If Dubai could be so progressive today that almost everyone from every corners of the world want to visit and sometimes choose to stay, there’s nothing stopping you from attaining the same height of greatness. Liberate your mind. The Northern youth arise and change the narrative. The coming generation is counting on you to change their fate from misery and despair to hope and aspirations. Until your mind is free true freedom remain furlough.

Inspired by FS Yusuf @FS_Yusuf_ post on twitter on 22nd of December, 2020 at 10:06pm.

Image scr: TwitterNG
There’s no Room in the Budget for Marijuana This Year
By: K.B. Hubbard
Tags: Humor, Life, Freedom, Corporate Culture, Work

There’s no Room in the Budget for Marijuana This Year

I have a disorder that can’t be seen physically.

It’s held me back in life. My disorder doesn’t have a name. It manifests itself as a disdain for anything that tries to control my time, most especially corporate culture.

Photo by veeterzy on Unsplash

Those two words, corporate culture, are devious. Behind them lies an entire machine dedicated to chewing up and spitting out good people. Good people who otherwise would have had dreams and ambitions are mentally whipped, chained to a desk, and squeezed for every last ounce of “value” they contain until their drained skins are tossed aside like orange peels.

Your time is the value. The time that you’ve been given on this earth is churned like cream and out comes the butter that the man gets fat on. Your time is no longer an endless canvas on which you can paint your life. It’s now become quantified, structured, measured, and grey-scaled. No more color, no more life. Only work, clocks, breaks, meetings, schedules, deadlines.

Punching a clock in and out so you can earn a dollar for every ten they do. Fake niceties passed around at conference tables like loose joints. But don’t mention that at the conference table because there’s rules for what you can and can’t say. Besides, marijuana is a luxury and you know there’s been budget cuts this year. We had to increase the boss’ salary, he was about to lose his third yacht! Have some heart, man!

They don’t like me there anyways. I’m a square peg in corporate America’s gaping, round hole. A hole that can never be filled. It constantly consumes good people and spits out corporate drones who then go on to actually advocate for the life they’ve been sucked into and ridicule those who don’t live such a life.

The clothes are stupid, too. If you’re going to make me sit in a box all day, at least let me wear shorts and a T-shirt.
🔥 Totally agree.
By: Antonija Osojnik
Tags: Freedom

…dgments from people who are only jealous of your life because of being unhappy with their own life. Listening to people who make you feel free and safe at the same time. Safe because we all need some safety in life. When we jump out of a plane just as much as when we move through life. And free because I don’t like being locked in or attached to someone .
Home
Tags: Soul, Freedom, Beauty, Poetry On Medium, Poetry

My soul dances across a sprawling sea

The waves content to express peace today

so my journey is unencumbered

The footsteps of my soul sublimate as readily as the sea it travels

Untethered from earth, I feel solidarity with the clouds

I am everywhere and nowhere at once

This is my true self, where I reside in eternity
Full Disclosure: I am biased because I…
By: Morgan Lesko
Tags: Covid 19, Pandemic, Freedom, Science, Politics

Love the scientific method,

especially when used for controlled, transparent, reproducible experiments. But I might only trust my life with the meta-analysis of empirical evidence.

Do not consent to authoritarian governments,

including demands to obey extraordinary mandates on inadequate evidence, without informed consent, while discouraging or censoring reasonable questions citing official data.

Do not consent to totalitarian governments,

like thoroughly dictating how most businesses can function, or when I can leave my home without risking jail, or what must or must not go inside my own body.

Do not consent to fascist governments,

like those with concentrated public-private partnerships between big pharma, vaccine makers without any direct liability for harms, their interest groups, and some significantly captured federal and global institutions, supporting militarized public health operations.

So I am sorry that my biases deeply influence my lenses — that may offend people — because I love learning from others who want to keep learning too.

❤, WikiWorldOrder.org

https://odysee.com/@wikiworldorder:c/full-disclosure-i-am-biased-because:5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qCRZvT6LC4
Are we democratic world!
By: Abdul Waheed
Tags: World News, Democratic, World, Freedom, Democracy

WE fool ourselves thinking we are a democracy! Just because we have elections every four or five years, just because we fill Parliament with elected representatives, we feel we are one.

In a democracy, Parliament and Courts are well balanced. In our country there is no balance at all. We have a constitution; we have courts, sluggish, slow and sleeping! We have elections on time, but justice in courts takes long. Which means only might prevails.

stats according to 2019

Numbers win: Majority opinion whether it is right or wrong takes precedence over whether the opinion is based on truth. There is no attempt whatsoever to rectify this imbalance because the wily politician knows if there are more courtrooms and more judges, then the law is strengthened and his power diminishes. In our country this imbalance has been allowed to happen so subtly that when we hear a case takes twenty years to be settled, we think mistakenly we have too many cases in our country.

Wrong. It is not too many cases but too few judges. We do not need Imran to weed out corruption, we need you and me insisting the party which comes to power next starts seeing that thousands and thousands of courts come into being. As soon as this happens cases will be resolved faster and people will be afraid to break the law, especially politicians.

Today the rich and powerful are not afraid to do illegal things, because they know judgement day is far away and by that time witnesses are bought, many turn hostile and finally in frustration the poorer party even with right on their side move towards a ‘compromise’ or an ‘out of court settlement’ which is generally a victory for the one with more muscle or more money! I listened to a friend of mine telling me once how a real estate broker, broke in and occupied his empty house in the suburbs. “After the fifth year of fighting Bob,” he told me wearily, “I realized I would win case after my death, so I paid him twenty lakhs to get out!”

It was a sad story but the story of thousands in our country. Ask for more courts from now on. Let that be part of Army and Imran’s manifesto. Just as the press took many years to become a free press in Pakistan, we need to free our law and our Constitution. Till then we are fools to call ourselves a democracy…!
What is enough? Enough love, enough laughter, enough beauty?
By: Christine Mcdougall
Tags: Freedom, Syntropic World, Enough, Neoliberalism

What is enough? Enough love, enough laughter, enough beauty?

Perhaps enough money, possessions, property?

Rights?

Freedom?

When I was invited as a guest to the favelas in Brazil enough was very little and yet laughter led everywhere.

At Syntropic World we hold that a regular conversation about what is enough is critical to our culture and our mental and emotional health.

At the level of humanity I look at the gifts of Earth, and I look at how we humans have devised a system that says there is never enough. Those of us who won the lottery of birth, be that to a family of privilege or to a country of access like Australia, yet our first impulse is so often to continue to accumulate against some definition of status, driven from enough’s twin, scarcity. While billions of people suffer form genuine lack of food, energy, medicine…every day.

As we slowly awaken to the reality of One World, with some countries seriously lagging in this awareness, it is sickening to see such obscenity of accumulation while people, through no fault of their own, struggle to make it through the day.

To live with a deep sense of enoughness is freedom. It restores sovereignty. It prevents corruption as a possibility.

I am blessed with such an abundance of beauty, love, joy, laughter, sunshine, health, genuine connections….

In gratitude I bow my head.

Photo taken December 23rd 2020

#worldwithafuture #businessreimagined #syntropicworld #syntropicenterprise
I’m a Full-Time Writer for 1 Month: a Win-Win Perspective
By: Nuno Fabiao
Tags: Self Improvement, Empowerment, Writing Tips, Freedom, Writing

I was a regular worker, from 9 to 5, like billions of other human beings on our planet.

My soul was dying, consumed by the commonness of my place on earth. I felt I could do things differently, but found nothing that at least could pay my bills.

I felted trapped in my day-to-day routines. Couldn’t create more. Felt empty, cause I was in a job where everything was difficult to execute. It was always a storm in planning a new version of the company’s master plan.

So, things just stayed the same. Nobody wanted to confront the boss, cause it was always a fucking war. At a certain point, everybody avoids confrontations. Just let it be, we thought.

The only light at the end of the tunnel was finding ways to save money enough to live 2 years without any income. I would have 2 years to build my own business and start from scratch. That was my goal.

I wanted my time back. I wanted to feel the old me again. Or at least, find who I am today now. And project a new future ahead of myself.

Was it possible?

Could I reach that goal?
Why we simply should not care
By: Katerina Prada
Tags: Ethics, Universe, Subconscious, Freedom, Psychology

People buy crystals on Amazon which say they contain magical powers or can take negative energy away from your life. Some people believe that if you write someones name on a piece of paper, they will fall in love with you. The TRUTH is that you just believe what you want until you die. Anyone can tell you differently and change your mind and your subconscious can make up whatever it wants and you live your life by it. Being good at school, getting a great job, it can make you happy. But everything comes with a price. Your family, your social life, does it really matter? Does the fact that your best friend stole your boyfriend really matter? Stop crying and being sad for hours over something that will only be a faded memory in a while. In the end, NOTHING MATTERS. You will just be lying there, dead in a box. And sure, everyone will mourn you and try to tell your family you are in a better place and is it true.. maybe? Anyway, my point is that we are all ants living on a rock in the middle of nowhere. There might even be extraterrestrial life out there and you are sitting here worrying about your math test? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. People sit on a desk working a 9–5 and go home. You might as well stare at a screen until you just start withering away. This is precisely why we should not care. Go fuck whoever you want without giving a fuck because what is the point of living if you never really lived.
As an artist I desperately want to do something against current madness.
By: Alexandra Cook
Tags: Relationships, Independence, Freedom, Togetherness, Self Determination

As an artist I desperately want to do something against current madness. So yesterday I decided to dedicate all my creativity from now on to celebrating freedom, self determination, togetherness, openness, independence, choice. Faces without masks, hands holding, hugs, crowds, rituals, festivals… Join me if you want the life ever go back to normal.
Daylight Robbery: The Normalization of Child Sacrifice
By: Jay Campbell
Tags: Schools, Anarchism, Society, Education, Freedom

It must feel strange when adults visit their former schools, particularly if their memories of it are predominantly negative ones. And, certainly, for most people, school represents over a decade of fear, anxiety, stress and trauma, for one reason or another. And yet, it’s the one decade in every person’s life that should have been the most exciting and miraculous; where freedom reigned, where clothing was optional, and where every day was a new adventure. Unfortunately, these magical childhood years can never be recovered. Or even, courtesy of the education system, recovered from.

Teachers themselves represented the main source of terror, for many. In hindsight, however, the apparent authority and menace of these paper tigers can only be seen as ironic. Certainly, no self-respecting adult would allow themselves to be intimidated by even their most feared childhood nemesis. For the abused child had, at last, become a man. He was big and strong now, and in a position to seek revenge, or at least compensation, for the terrible abuse that he suffered. Instead, however, the adult meekly and obediently delivers his own children into the hands of his former abuser.

Why do parents perpetuate such an obvious cycle of abuse? Because they have submitted to a seemingly more legitimate authority than mere teachers: Government. And, by extension, society itself, with its endlessly shifting definitions of normality. We know from history that behaviour once deemed worthy of death, or life imprisonment, is subsequently either accepted as normal, or else celebrated as virtuous. And vice versa. Either way, there are winners and losers in this high-stakes lottery. And those who find themselves on the wrong side of history must either pay with their lives, by conforming to the status-quo, or else choose to become outsiders, and prepare to accept the consequences of having a modicum of self-respect.
Who exactly is keeping US divided?
By: Kathleen Tiemubol
Tags: Truth, United States, Journalism, Freedom, Politics

Who exactly is keeping US divided?

I find it disturbing that in your entire article you fail to point out ways in which misinformation in the media has been disseminated by your publication and others about the President and others in his administration that has caused a lot of pain for some of these same public servants you mention.

Do you think your readers here are naive? We understand that people who write the “news" can choose what narrative they give us and which words to include and which ones to leave out. They can even put words in people’s mouths when they refuse to comment by speculating what someone meant when they made a particular comment.

In fact, isn’t it true that some of these articles written have stoked the hatred directed toward these public servants by their family members and friends?

And yet, you continue to direct people’s animosity toward President Trump and his administration and do not even question how we people frequently judge others and cut them off without giving them the benefit of the doubt.

So who exactly is causing the divisiveness in the US and who gains from it?

I watched Hamilton this year for the first time when it was made available on Disney + and laughed along with everyone else at the portrayal of the mad king of England until he sang about waiting and watching for our experiment with democracy to fail. That sent a chill down my spine, because we are on the brink of failing as long as we silence voices of people who don’t agree with us and paint individuals from different parties as villains.

In the musical we see how the founding fathers fought and debated among themselves and even maligned each other at times. And yet, they were still able to put aside differences and personal failures to work together for the success of the republic.

George Washington’s leadership was so successful, because he insisted on bringing people together around the table rather than allowing issues to become a tug of war where people remain entrenched on opposite sides.

We cannot even do that right now, because the media has been focused on maligning those who are not in their political party rather than reporting factual information and letting their readers decide what to think.

The prevailing environment in the media is to silence voices that oppose their collective point of view and portray these individuals in the worst possible light.

And then many of us in the public have been led along by these same “experts" and haven’t had time to go around checking out what is true or not true for ourselves. We’ve been too quick to judge others without putting ourselves in the other people’s shoes and realizing just how challenging their jobs can be when faced with opposition from within and without and then judged for the good they do as well as for mistakes they make.

So who’s responsible for the divisiveness? Let’s stop laying the blame at one person’s door and take a good, long, hard look at ourselves and our self-righteous attitudes.
Sometimes I feel lucky, for lack of a better word.
By: Enza García Arreaza
Tags: Freedom, Venezuela, Dictatorship

Sometimes I feel lucky, for lack of a better word. Experiencing the scope of a dictatorship, experiencing firsthand the destruction of a country thanks to a criminal project, gave me the right kind of instinct to not take things for granted and remind myself that the best thing I can do for other people is to respect their preferences and their own inner life. A dictatorship is, above all, a repressive force that seeks to annihilate the individual, and many times, due to laziness or intentional negligence, we act in this way when we are unable to respect each other and to understand that each person has different interests, appetites and voices. Of course, I do not recommend going through a dictatorship to understand these things, but I guess I have no choice but to learn from this corner of pain and enlightenment.

May 2021 be the year of freedom for Venezuela.
The Tears of a Laundromat
By: Clayton Cooper
Tags: Loneliness, Poem, Growth, Mental Health, Freedom

He is stronger than the wisdom.

The black sheeps like to be alone.

Be different and feel Schopenhauer’s dread your shoulders.

Carry it up the hills.

Carry it down the street.

Carry it at all times.

Blame the people for being happy.

He knows nothing of happiness.

I am breaking.

Finally feeling alone.

Freedom is waiting for me.

But I am afraid of my own potential.

The emptiness was wearing the Riddlers’s costume.

I fell in love with my loneliness.

We were perfect.

A lonely boy and a dark room.

I don't want to be Batman.

I don't want to save people anymore.

I don't want to be a hero anymore.

I just want to see my own reflection,

and hope it smiles back.
Flight
By: K.C. Knouse
Tags: Escape, Price, Flight, Freedom, Poetry

Flight

My feet rest on solid ground. I look up at a slice of cold, pure blue sky. It is suffocating here. I must escape, break free. I unfurl my feathered wings and flap, flap, flap.

The wings thump against the air, thump, thump, thump. I pour all of my energy into the flapping and all of my spirit into the desire for flight.

With incredible effort, the miracle happens; I break free from gravity’s grip. I catch a thermal and soar high into the clean, sweet air. Everything below becomes miniature and insignificant. I view entire cities at a glance.

The boundless sky suits my vagabond nature. The air supports me, an invisible hand ushering me through puffy wisps of clouds.

Unimpeded, the penetrating rays of the sun lift me to new heights. I am above the noise and the weather. All is warm, bright, and blue. Nothing can touch me here.

But I am mistaken. Freedom exacts a price. Gravity’s relentless pull seeks to collect. Fatigue creeps into my arms and chest. I try to resist, but it takes hold of me.

I glide back to earth, no longer afraid for I have risen above it all, willing to seek nourishment to restore my vigor so flight can once again feed my soul.
Reflections on the Open Source Movement
By: Jonathan Beckett
Tags: Freedom, Software Development, Programming, Open Source, Linux

In the beginning, Microsoft got it wrong

I learned to program computers before the World Wide Web existed, and still remember the walled gardens that fought a losing battle against it in the early days. I remember Microsoft “not getting” the internet at all — it’s worth remembering that Windows 95 shipped without a browser, or even a TCP/IP stack (the low-level plumbing that lets your computer talk to other computers across the internet).

During the years immediately prior to Windows 95, there were other options. I remember not being able to justify the cost of IBM OS/2, and feeling that I missed out — a widely held view at the time being that it was better than Microsoft Windows. Of course, the public only learned years later of the internal falling out between Microsoft and IBM; that OS/2 started out in life as the next generation of Windows, and that history might have been very different indeed if Windows 3 hadn’t sold by the bucket load.
Driven
By: Thomas Mullen
Tags: Freedom, Driving, Centina, Inspired By Tracy Chapman

Photo by Josh Hild from Pexels

As the breeze began to bite, she wondered when he was going to come. The car repairs had cost her far too much already, and she wasn’t sure any more work would be possible.

It arrived unscathed, and she drove home, running a couple of red lights. Nobody else was around and she needed to be alone.

She spent most of her time in the bath worrying about speed cameras, though the next few days spent alone brought no warning notices. Postmen getting lazy, maybe.

Every night she gazed at the stars, hoping to draw herself a path toward freedom.
Current Realities
By: Randy Shingler
Tags: Reality, Poetry Sunday, Freedom, Presence, Poetry

Presence felt in current realities

Addressing them as they come

Looming large in every moment

Both in challenges and fulfillments

Continuing unfolding in own dramas.

Can be ignored but not forgotten

Until addressed and finally resolved,

Lingering realities haunt our spirits

Sapping energy from one’s heart

And detrimental to mind and psyche.

Resolving them allows letting go

Giving new freedom to one’s self

As they become ancient histories,

Romanticizing in freedom’s wake

Feeling energy from creative sources.

Present moments are all we have

Seeking to make the most of them

Never ignoring or forgetting,

Always present to current realities.
are we all equal?
Tags: Freedom, Equality, Womens Rights

ARE WE ALL EQUAL?

Are we all equal? a question we all should ask ourselves, are we all being treated equally no matter our gender? the sad fact is we are not in many ways. we still live in a world where if someone is black they are thought to be gangsters, if someone is Muslim they are thought to be killers, if someone was to be part of the lgbt+ they are thought to be sick and in need of desperate help. where if a woman is seen doing something non has done men see this as a threat causing them to control, be abusive. this is the sad fact we live in right now.

women, without them there is no society, there is no love and no respect. without them, men cant live but yet men control, shame, and abuse women all over the world. even putting standards on them, a price, making them hurt themselves to become something men would take. I went on all my social media’s asking friends and strangers questions about women and their rights and here are the results.

Do you think women get harassed or raped due to what they wear?

some people to this day still think women get harassed due to what she wears. while this is very false, even if a woman was to cover her full body men would still harass women making them very uncomfortable and scared for their life while being in public alone or with friends or family. This is all caused by how normalized it has become in today’s time, how men treat women differently and in a very inhuman way. women in today’s time are treated like toys where a man would cheat on his wife for sex, where a boss would manipulate his female worker to do things to get a raise. where men would make fun of a women’s body when she’s on her period and how they control her body when it comes to hygiene and controlling if she can abort or have a baby even in the case of rape. it has become a world where men control everything, even if it’s a woman’s body. And I think we can all agree that the reason all this is happening is that men fear women, they fear to be controlled by the people they controlled all those years. they fear losing to another gender.

so in the end, no it’s not what women wear that drives men crazy, a woman can wear modest clothes and still be harassed by men, all this because it is normalized. they always say “protect your girls” but what should be really said is “educated your sons” for the better future of our world. we are all equal yet we are not treated equally, we treat women as toys that can be used and consumed when in fact without them we are nothing.

when I went and asked what would women do if men disappeared for a day, the answers were shocking and very understanding. some said they would take a walk at night while listening to music, while others said they would feel free from the abuse they would get from home and others said they would wear anything and feel safe and not harassed or raped by any man. seeing these comments really shows how far we are from equality, this shows we still have a lot to fix as “we” humans and until then we are still living in a misogynistic world, where women have no freedom and are controlled by every aspect.
Stand for something — sometimes we must bite off more than we can chew
By: Dwarak Narasimhan
Tags: Leadership, History, Protest, Freedom, Culture

Protest is at the heart of human advancement. The desire to be truly independent — in thought and in action — fuels our very existence. But for a protest to be successful, there must be a commonality of purpose, belief and values. The smallest of acts often gather steam and lead to the greatest results.

In 1857, a 29-year-old Sepoy of the Bengal Native Infantry of the British East India Company, ostensibly under the influence of opium, threatened to shoot at the first European who appeared in his sight. The threat was duly carried out a few minutes later (albeit unsuccessfully). While Mangal Pandey’s personal motivation behind the act remains unclear, it was widely regarded as an act of protest against the new bullet cartridges in the Enfield P-53 rifle that were said to have been greased with animal fat and needed to be bitten off at one end before use. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death by hanging.

His action raised the curtain on what came to be known as the First War of Indian Independence, paving the way for the next generation to complete what he started — the fight to be free.

Often, we do not (and at the moment perhaps cannot) fully understand the impact that our actions can have. But if we do not stand up for what we believe in, the human race cannot progress.

Whether it is peace or perfection, fashion or free thought, will you have the courage to stand for what you believe in?
She used to sing
By: Hiba Aloul
Tags: Carefree, Poem, Nostalgia, Dreams, Freedom

Photo by Scott Higdon on Unsplash

There’s a little girl that lives in my heart

Oh the stories she tells, the images she draws

She speaks a lot, of poetry and freedom

Of sleeping in the wild

She sometimes lets me in on the magic she holds in her hands

and oftentimes she pleads to be seen

It’s not time, I tell her

She won’t take my word for it

Sometimes I even tell her it’s too late

She used to sing, never in tune

Oh how I long to hear her sing
An Update To The World About My Husband
Tags: Rwanda, Husband, Freedom, Hotel Rwanda, Help

By, Taciana Rusesabagina

My name is Taciana Rusesabagina. I wanted to share some of my thoughts from a recent press conference regarding my husband Paul’s ongoing detention.

First of all, I want to thank all the people who have supported my family in our struggle against the profound injustice and accompanying sadness that we have been coping with for the last 3 months. I will be grateful to every person who has supported us in this ordeal for the rest of my life.

It’s been already 111 days since my husband Paul Rusesabagina — my confidant, the father of my children, and the hero of Hotel Rwanda — was kidnapped by criminals and forcibly taken to Rwanda, a country he fled in 1996 to escape from persecution targeted at him and other dissidents. I appeal to all the countries of the world, both their leaders and their citizens, to come aid us in our campaign to bring my husband home safely and to put an end to this harrowing treatment of human rights activists across the globe.

My husband, my hero, is a man of principles and integrity. He is a man who has always fought against injustice — both in his humanitarian work across the world and in his private life. He has always been the voice of the voiceless. He has always passionately fought for fairness, justice, and democratic values.

His brave advocacy has had an incredible impact on the lives of countless people, but it has also attracted the scorn of dictators and oppressors. In an attempt to protect ourselves, we left Rwanda in 1996 and Paul was granted political asylum in Belgium. But since 2005, we have been subject to threats, intimidation, and even murder attempts. Our home was ransacked, the Belgian government is a witness to this. Because of his bravery and pursuit of human rights, my husband and I have faced many difficulties together. I can tell you that what is happening right now is the hardest challenge yet, because we are not side by side to face it together.

Today, my husband is facing false allegations pertaining to crimes that he has always spoken out against. His motto has always been truth, justice, and reconciliation for lasting peace in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region of Africa.

In conclusion, I ask for help, for assistance, and for your prayers. I ask the Belgian government to bring my husband — their citizen — home from his unjust detention in Rwanda as soon as possible. It was a grave violation of international law and justice when my husband was kidnapped, tortured, and taken against his will to Rwanda without any due process. As Martin Luther King said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Humanitarians and dissidents all over the world could be the next target — if a person can be kidnapped from a country they’re visiting by a country that wants to torture them, where does it stop? I pray that we don’t have to find out what that future looks like.

So finally, I ask the religious community around the world to pray for us that my husband, the father of my children, will come home safe and sound. We miss him dearly.
Time’s Up!
By: A Human Named David
Tags: Philosophy, Peace, Phone Addiction, Freedom

Week 4

I woke up from a disjointed dream. It seemed to me that all of the stories and propaganda that I had been exposed to during my recovery from modern convention were an actual and integral part of me. I woke up feeling as though I had really known those politicians or actually cared about their corrupt, inhumane, and ignorant choices to lead a “nation.” I woke up feeling as though the vain appearances of celebrities that I had come to “know” remotely were actually of substance and artistic value. I had forgotten that the politicians were Owned. I had forgotten the celebrities were Owned. I had forgotten that I Was Free!

I sauntered down the stairs of my new house to find two numbers spray-painted onto the wall of my studio in large dripping black paint.

1906

685

I couldn’t decipher this code immediately. I had to stand there for a while and meditate on them.

I remembered; November! I had spent 1906 minutes glued to the allure of The Device. I had unlocked The Device 685 times in the month of November. A quarter of those minutes and unlocks would surely amount to the time needed to complete my social and business tasks. Great. Needed!

Three quarters of that time were surely examples of a man wasting precious moments scrolling toward oblivion.

I have begun to track my minutes and unlocks daily. Are you interested in becoming aware of where your time, energy, and intentions are spent? Does it scare you too much to look?

The time is now to reclaim Time.

Log your minutes this week. Join me on this.

Our path to Freedom begins with the mindful use of our technology to further ourselves. Our path to Freedom ends with slavery to mindless and soulless exploitation of our spirits and moments.

A.H.N.D

Book I am reading now : Down Girl by Kate Manne
Free to Believe
By: Helena Toto
Tags: Identity, Belief, Faith, Freedom, Poetry

Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

I wish to be free

To believe what I want

And not be judged

Or damned

Or sentenced

To be told my future is

Now different than yours

Bleaker, that it will end in

destruction

Is puzzling

Because you don’t know me

You knew my mask of projection

And you assumed I was like you

Damaged

Gullible

And I was,

For a while

But I saw the colors change

I took note of the shadows

And I felt the shifting in my bones

From one truth to the next

Until the sacred became silly

And my choices danced before me

Like rain

Sin dissolved into puddles

I could play in

Manipulation’s talons

No longer made me bleed

I grew tall underneath your cowardice

Taller than you remembered

So, when you saw me

You didn’t believe

In my new happiness

You tried to slay the

Dragon I had become

But I no longer answer to you

Or your God

I believe what I

Am is enough.

To be free

And whole

And happy

Is enough.
Authentic Acceptance of Self Frees You
By: Ruchi Thalwal
Tags: Freedom, Love, Self, Poetry, Spirituality

The genuine happiness,

The disappointment, the sadness

The hearty celebration,

The frustration, the angry cuss

People may provoke you in ignorance

But the emotions that you display

That are you hidden within yourself

Does someone shout at you?

Belittling you, humiliating you

Making you mad

wanting to throw some punches

Does someone hate you?

You feel remorseful

Sorry for what you did

But you hesitate to admit it

Do you love someone?

But fearful of rejection

You dare not express

What genuinely lies within

Do you think you deserve more?

Making you anxious,

making you compare yourself

Inferiority and frustration bubbling in

Do you think it is girly to cry?

where you suppress everything

that you feel inside

Tears are for weak,

Showing yourself as strong on the outside

But all you want is to rip the walls with your cry

If not to the world, at least be truthful to you

If you feel disappointment, anger, or love

Let it express and flow through you

It doesn’t matter if you acknowledge it to others or not

But by accepting yourself completely

You are giving yourself an outlet

Accepting yourself as a human

with different emotions

This is self-love

It is solely your responsibility

Don’t mold yourself on what others say

Be your authentic version

even if you are fearful or anxious

Embrace and hug the beautiful heart

that suffers too much

Up and down, down and up

Love your heart for all it has bore

Accept all the ugliness

Accept all the beauty

Take it as two sides of a coin

When one exists

other will always persist

Be acceptable to both

and you are free of all the dualities!
I’m Sorry
Tags: Freedom, Accepting Yourself, Sexuality, Poetry

I’m sorry momma.

I tried living as you taught me,

Loving God and living his word,

Being a good Christian as much as I can.

I tried listening to your teachings,

Giving God all my prayers,

Not letting my sexuality deviate,

But that is where I failed.

I traveled into Curiosity Forest,

Swam in the Pond of Femme,

And came up tasting its sweet water,

Wanting more in the end.

I met a siren that caught my eye,

And eventually found a world of other creatures.

Stags, centaurs, fairies, bears, and others galore,

And they all welcomed me with open arms

Presenting me love that I never knew

But all the same, it kept me warm.

Their rainbow brought color to my vision,

Seeing things for what they are,

Black and white were not enough anymore.

Pinning for the knowledge I never knew existed,

I did research and lived among the creatures,

Becoming one with nature.