NOW!

“They taught us not to question what they considered true, not to raise our voices, and to look away.

They taught us theories, dogmas, and unquestionable truths.

They taught us the clock, schedules, the arrow in every hand marking the monotonous rhythm of plastic and noise that they call ‘life.’

They taught us that love is like Disney, family is like the families in their advertisements, and sex is like pornography.

They taught us that the Earth is not our mother, but something to exploit and squeeze dry to the very last drop.

They taught us, ‘Every man for himself,’ ‘me first, others later.’ They taught us to compete, to judge, and to point fingers at anything that is not ‘politically correct.’

They taught us borders, trenches, maps, and the calendar.

They taught us flags, ideologies, religions, and beliefs.

They taught us to sit quietly at mealtimes while the news filled the room with cruelty. They taught us what was impossible. They taught us, ‘Don’t stand out,’ because otherwise you would be thrown onto the pyre of social prejudice.

They taught us fashions, trends, comparisons, guilt, and the rejection of our own bodies in pursuit of their unattainable ideals of beauty.

They taught us to pour poison onto the very soil that feeds us, to cut down the forests that clean our air, and to poison the water that gives us life.

They taught us to burn forests and cover them with concrete in the name of ‘quality of life.’

They taught us to blow the dust from flowers, yet tear out new shoots.

They taught us to cage birds and dreams.

They taught us to function like machines, to ‘behave ourselves,’ to raise neither our heads nor our voices, to keep doing the same things, to lose our essence, and then to add chemicals to supposedly ‘heal’ it.

They taught us to smile for photographs, but to cry where no one could see.

They taught us that the world is exactly as they tell us it is; that we should question nothing, doubt nothing, keep functioning, and swallow our tears.

They taught us that our worth lies in our wallets and our wealth in the material things we accumulate.

They taught us to follow tracks instead of making new paths.

They taught us to silence our song and forget our joy.

They taught us to consume until we consume ourselves…

They taught us, beneath it all, to always be afraid.

And now?

NOW

is the time
to unlearn
everything
we were taught,

and to remember

who
we
have
always
been.

— A. Márquez

@OnlyFaithOverFear