20 Years of Freedom? - by Fazlynn Pietersen (2014)
We have it all! Education...Infrastructure...Justice...Capital...Land... Freedom!
We bask in the light of the fires which our predecessors have lit and burnt in for our warmth. We sip, ever so slowly, on the wine from the grapes that were stomped upon by our great-grandparents for our pleasure. We learn things today that the youth of the past had fought, bled and died for. Some of us, most of us, we, I am born free.
Born without the fear that the complexion of the skin, the texture of my hair or even the articulation of my words will be factors that bind me and keep me from what I rightfully deserve. I am born free.
Born into a world where I can look around and see so many different people in the same place. I am born free.
Born into a country where I can learn about Projectile Motion, Protein Synthesis, IUPAC names and ICTs. I am born free.
Born into a generation that sees with their hearts, and the heart...it sees no colour. Yes. Yes, I am born free.
I am born into a world where I can be myself.... No. No, that one doesn't seem to fit quite right...
I live in a country, a world, a society, where beauty is the face of the girl on the cover of the magazine.
I live in a society where girls brag about being the "main chick."
I live in a society where boys and girls, do take note that I do not call them 'men and women', refer to themselves as "faded".
You and I, we live in a society that feeds off the concept of 'YOLO'. Well thanks for being obvious. I'm sorry, but for how long have you been going to school; and now, just because some rapper proclaims it - accompanied by multiple swearwords and curses - does it finally dawn upon your consciousness that you only live once?
We live in a society where the 'Yellowbone' is seen as the superior race; and where white people are out in the sun, trying to get a tan because they think they're too pale and black people are inside, afraid of going out into the sun, because they're afraid they'll "lose complexion."
I live in a society where boys think it's attractive to sag their pants and parade around in their underwear.
We live in a society where a girl feels so insecure that she posts a picture on instagram, #NoFilter, and then blurs everything in that picture but her breasts. Not to show off her natural beauty. No, that's what society wants her to think she's doing; when she's actually just filling the growing void within her with the likes and comments of boys who are suffering from chronic thirst.
I live in a society that has blinded us with an opaque cloth that it calls 'freedom', when we're really bound by multiple chains, shackles and cuffs.
We live in a world where we're given so many opportunities. We stand in front of unlocked doors, yet we expect someone else to reach out and open them for us.
We live in a world where we're given education, yet learners still don't understand why they go to school.
We live in a world where 'The Sky's The Limit', when there's an entire universe out there just waiting to be discovered!
We are all free. Some of us were even born free; but because we're so blinded and naive, we are the ones who have turned the key on the lock that now binds us. Some of us have even thrown away that key. Why? Oh yes, YOLO.
We are born into a free country, but this country has an obvious oppressor. This oppressor is as powerful as they can get. This oppressor is us.
20 Years of Freedom...and we still can't be ourselves.
So wake up! Wake up from this hypnosis. Remove the opaque cloths which society has blinded you with, find the key you once lost and unchain yourself...because YGDA - You're Gonna Die Anyway.
Now I want you to think. Think about what I've just told you, and ask yourself: Are You Really Free?
