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Khalil
Gibran
The people are the slaves of Life, and it is slavery which fills
their days with misery and distress and floods their nights with
tears and anguish.
Seven thousand years have passed since the day of my first birth,
and since that day I have been witnessing the slaves of Life, dragging
their heavy shackles.
I have roamed the East and West of the earth and wandered in the
Light and in the Shadow of Life. I have seen the processions of
civilization moving from light into darkness, and each was dragged
down to hell by humiliated souls bent under the yoke of slavery.
The strong is fettered and subdued and the faithful is on his knees
worshipping idols. I have followed man from Babylon to Cairo, and
from Ain Dour to Baghdad, and observed the marks of his chains upon
the sand. I heard the sad echoes of the fickle ages repeated by
the eternal prairies and valleys.
I visited the temples and altars and entered the palaces and sat
before the thrones. And I saw the apprentice slaving for the artisan,
and the artisan slaving for the employer, and the employer slaving
for the soldier, and the soldier slaving for the governor, and the
governor slaving for the king, and the king slaving for the priest,
and the priest slaving for the idol.... And the idol is naught but
earth fashioned by Satan and erected upon a knoll of skulls.
I entered the mansions of the rich and visited the huts of the
poor. I found the infant nursing the milk of slavery from his mother's
bosom, and the children learning submission with the alphabet.
The maidens wear garments of restriction and passivity, and the
wives retire with tears upon beds of obedience and legal compliance.
I accompanied the ages from the banks of the Kange to the shores
of the Euphrates; from the mouth of the Nile to the plains of Assyria;
from the arenas of Athens to the churches of Rome; from the slums
of Constantinople to the palaces of Alexandria.... Yet I saw slavery
moving over all, in a glorious and majestic procession of ignorance.
I saw the people sacrificing the youths and the maidens at the feet
of the idol, calling her the God; pouring wine and perfume upon
her feet, and calling her the Queen; burning incense before her
image, and calling her the Prophet; kneeling and worshipping before
her, and calling her the Law; fighting and dying for her, and calling
her Patriotism; submitting to her will, and calling her the Shadow
of God on earth; destroying and demolishing homes and institutions
for her sake, and calling her Fraternity; struggling and stealing
and working for her, and calling her Fortune and Happiness; killing
for her, and calling her Equality.
She possesses various names, but one reality. She has many appearances,
but is made of one element. In truth, she is an everlasting ailment
bequeathed by each generation unto its successor.
I found the blind slavery, which ties the people,s present with
their parents, past, and urges them to yield to their traditions
and customs, placing ancient spirits in the new bodies.
I found the mute slavery, which binds the life of a man to a wife
whom he abhors, and places the woman's body in the bed of a hated
husband, deadening both lives spiritually.
I found the deaf slavery, which stifles the soul and heart, rendering
man but an empty echo of a voice, and a pitiful shadow of a body.
I found the lame slavery, which places man's neck under the domination
of the tyrant and submits strong bodies and weak minds to the sons
of Greed for use as instruments to their power.
I found the ugly slavery, which descends with the infants, spirits
from the spacious firmament into the home of Misery, where Need
lives by Ignorance, and Humiliation resides beside Despair. And
the children grow as miserables, and live as criminals, and die
as despised and rejected non-existents.
I found the subtle slavery, which entitles things with other than
their names-calling slyness an intelligence, and emptiness a knowledge,
and weakness a tenderness, and cowardice a strong refusal.
I found the twisted slavery, which causes the tongues of the weak
to move with fear, and speak outside of their feelings, and they
feign to be meditating their plight, but they become as empty sacks,
which even a child can fold or hang.
I found the bent slavery, which prevails upon one nation to comply
with the laws and rules of another nation and the bending is greater
with each day.
I found the perpetual slavery, which crowns the sons of monarchs
as kings, and offers no regard to merit.
I found the black slavery, which brands with shame and disgrace
forever the innocent sons of criminals.
Contemplating slavery, it is found to possess the vicious powers
of continuation and contagion.
When I grew tired of following the dissolute ages, and wearied
of beholding the processions of stoned people, I walked lonely in
the Valley of the Shadow of Life, where the past attempts to conceal
itself in guilt, and the soul of the future folds and rests itself
too long. There, at the edge of
Blood and Tears River, which crawled like a poisonous viper and
twisted like a criminal,s dreams, I listened to the frightened whisper
of the ghosts of slaves, and gazed at nothingness.
When midnight came and the spirits emerged from hidden places,
I saw a cadaverous, dying spectre fall to her knees, gazing at the
moon. I approached her, asking, "What is your name?
"My name is Liberty, replied this ghastly shadow of a corpse.
And I inquired, "Where are your children?
And Liberty, tearful and weak, gasped, "One died crucified,
another died mad, and the third one is not yet born.
She limped away and spoke further, but the mist in my eyes and
the cries ofmy heart prevented sight or hearing.
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