A prisoners of conscience as defined by Wikepedia is:
Any person who is physically restrained (by imprisonment or otherwise) from expressing (in any form of words or symbols) any opinion which he honestly holds and which does not advocate or condone personal violence.
Expression can refer to race, color, language, sexual orientation, belief, or lifestyle. It can refer to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted because of their non-violent expression of their conscientiously held beliefs.
The term prisoners of conscience resonates intensely with me today. It resonates because I have long felt physical restraint from any form of expression. In my culture, independence of thinking is an act that cuts across the grain. I suppose it's a global norm. But in my present situation, standing up for what you believe in is dishonoring the prime authority figures of your life. You parents.
Just recently, I have expressed wanting to leave the place I work to allow my spiritual beliefs to become alive. I was believing God for something and somehow I was led to an answer and I wanted to see that answer through but a bunch of worries listed by my father cut any determination to hope that what God tells me is true. Just recently, my father calls my attention because of how my young friends are attached to me. He says that friends should not be that kind of burden to one another.
But who am I to say what is right? When for most of my life, I have been wrong? Or so I have been told.
In a way, the term prisoner of conscience, is something I call myself today. Held from living out my truth because my kindred has been held out from living theirs.
At the end of the day, circumstances are just aftershocks of the real happening. But until we are able to see the real struggle, we will never find real compassion to sit with those aching to breathe with their dreams.
Any person who is physically restrained (by imprisonment or otherwise) from expressing (in any form of words or symbols) any opinion which he honestly holds and which does not advocate or condone personal violence.
Expression can refer to race, color, language, sexual orientation, belief, or lifestyle. It can refer to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted because of their non-violent expression of their conscientiously held beliefs.
The term prisoners of conscience resonates intensely with me today. It resonates because I have long felt physical restraint from any form of expression. In my culture, independence of thinking is an act that cuts across the grain. I suppose it's a global norm. But in my present situation, standing up for what you believe in is dishonoring the prime authority figures of your life. You parents.
Just recently, I have expressed wanting to leave the place I work to allow my spiritual beliefs to become alive. I was believing God for something and somehow I was led to an answer and I wanted to see that answer through but a bunch of worries listed by my father cut any determination to hope that what God tells me is true. Just recently, my father calls my attention because of how my young friends are attached to me. He says that friends should not be that kind of burden to one another.
But who am I to say what is right? When for most of my life, I have been wrong? Or so I have been told.
In a way, the term prisoner of conscience, is something I call myself today. Held from living out my truth because my kindred has been held out from living theirs.
At the end of the day, circumstances are just aftershocks of the real happening. But until we are able to see the real struggle, we will never find real compassion to sit with those aching to breathe with their dreams.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment