Society keeps people locked in metaphorical cages within which they are dictated to regarding how they should behave and act in order to win approval. Limited by long-held systems of oppression centered on the patriarchy and heteronormativity, and white supremacy, anyone who is seen to diverge away from the cage is brandished as being ‘ill.’

Homosexuality, for example, was a crime and considered a mental illness until the 1970s, with conversion therapy being used in an attempt to ‘turn people straight.’ It was thought that homosexuality was a result of trauma, so if that trauma could be resolved, through therapy, then so too could the ‘issue’ of sexuality be resolved, apparently…

Whatever it is that we are told is ‘wrong’, ultimately, it boils down to fear– a fear of being perceived as ‘different.’

Where does this fear stem from?

As humans, we are creatures of habit, and so, we tend to stick to what is familiar to us. As such, when a person, or a group of people, are seen to be going against long-held norms, some of us feel threatened by that because…

‘Things have always been this way.’

And, to those people, I would say that, whilst things might have always been a certain way, that doesn’t mean that things should stay that way.

If it wasn’t for the Suffragette movement in which women fought for their right to vote, then we would still be living in a society in which women have no rights…

Ask anyone at the time, in the early 20th century, prior to the bravery of Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragette movement, and they would probably have expressed their disapproval of women’s rights. 

Why? Because ‘male superiority’ (i.e. the patriarchy), was just the way things had always been, (and, again, as human beings, ‘creatures of habit’, we like familiarity)… 

But, ask anyone now, and unless they’re a misogynistic prick, they would never choose to revoke women’s rights. 

The point being that change is scary, but all it takes is for one person, one group of people, to prove that change is possible, for us to realise that change is good (not just good, but NEEDED, needed to heal a sick society)…

When we have never experienced an alternative life though, we don’t know that there is an alternative life. And, this is why activism is so important, especially for people who can’t protest and call for change themselves…

When we have a voice, we have a moral duty to be a voice for the voiceless.

When oppression and discrimination are all someone has ever known, they don’t know that there is a whole other world out there worth fighting for…

In North Korea, for example, its citizens are oblivious to the fact that a world exists where they aren’t publically executed for listening to K-pop music, or thrown in prison for trying to leave the country. 

They don’t realise that a world exists outside of the propaganda they see, because that is all they do see. With all foreign media banned, they only see what Kim Jong Un wants them to see…

As much as I complain about the UK, what with the state of British politics at the minute, we are one of the wealthiest, most progressive countries in the world when it comes to our human rights, and that is a fact that cannot be overlooked here…

We cannot overlook the fact that we can walk down the street holding hands with our partner of the same sex and not be dragged away with a gun held to our head, 
or that we have access to healthcare via the NHS,
or that we have a welfare state (albeit sometimes, even just for access to it, we have to beg), 
but it’s there.

Even if for mere decoration, to ‘ease the Torie’s conscience’, at least we have it there.

So, with our privilege, we owe it to people who live in countries without all of these things, where to be gay is still a crime,
where there is no NHS, and people have to barter with their lives-
‘If you can’t afford it, no qualms, we’ll just leave you to die.’

‘Human rights??’ What human rights?’

We owe it to them, to show them that there IS a different way of life.

It is only when the cage door has been opened that they will realise that they were trapped all along. That the cage they have spent their whole lives calling home, is, in fact, a prison.

We owe it to them to fight the fight,
to be the voice for the voiceless,
to bring them out of the darkness
and into the light,
to find the key
to open the cage door,
so that they can, finally, be free to fly…

Find the key,
let them fly,
out of the darkness,
and into the light.

F L Y.

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If you enjoyed reading this article, please read Maya Angelou’s beautiful poem, ‘Caged Bird’, below:

A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind   
and floats downstream   
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and   
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings   
with a fearful trill   
of things unknown   
but longed for still   
and his tune is heard   
on the distant hill 
for the caged bird   
sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams   
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream   
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied   
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings   
with a fearful trill   
of things unknown   
but longed for still   
and his tune is heard   
on the distant hill   
for the caged bird   
sings of freedom.