An ode to freedom

A free verse poem on the value of living a life in freedom and peace

Yesterday was Liberation Day in the Netherlands, a public holiday on which we celebrate that we are free. It is the day that the Dutch were fully liberated from Nazi occupation in 1945, and it directly follows the Remembrance of the Dead Day on the 4th of May, on which Dutch victims of wars are remembered. For my part, as someone who does not care all that much about national identity, I still see it as the most meaningful holiday that the Netherlands has, and I fully embrace the spirit behind these two days, on which we all come together, to remember and renounce the horrors of war, and to remind ourselves of the importance of living our life in freedom and peace. This year, however, I found myself struggling to connect with this day. A large part of this has been the thoughtless flag waving over the war in Ukraine, accompanied by the sending of criticism-proof supplies of weaponry, regardless of whether they contribute to either endlessly continuing or dangerously escalating the conflict, or of whose hands these weapons end up in. I doubt that Ukrainian president Zelenskyy chose the date, 4 May, of his first trip to the Netherlands by accident, as he hopes to induce my government to agree to more weapons sales, for “as long as it takes”. When I woke up yesterday morning, I got the urge to put what has been bothering me into words. The result has been a free verse poem that I am now sharing with you, which I hope will not only help you understand where I am coming from, but make you think about how valuable it is to be free and to live in peace.

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From remembrance to freedom, like
from silence to noise
          from winter to spring 
                    from war to peace.

On these days my mind tends to wonder
about life here and over yonder
where freedom is not presumed
nor conveniently packaged and consumed.

It's no small thing, I know, 
to safely walk the street 
to talk and share and laugh with those you meet
to know my thoughts are not a crime
that I am free to write this rhyme.

Yet there are those who say that freedom has a price
and that may well be true
but those who say that should think twice
because they often have no clue
that these hollow words are followed
by never-ending
                             lies
     weapon sales
                             destruction
             suffering
                             war

It is a freedom based on fear
of each other and the other
that seduces us through click-bait and hate
and soundbites that smother 
meaningful debate,
to choose our country over our mother
and let our sons, daughters, and future generations
be bled and fed into industrial machinations, 
of
              exploitation
                                    expropriation
  false emancipation

Such a shame when people misunderstand
and think I do not cherish the hard-fought freedoms in this land
the freedom to
                            speak
                                     think
                             love
                                     live

I would not want it any other way
but I am frankly fucking sick of
the freedom to
                          consume
                                          pollute
                            distract
                                          obey
to keep getting told that we can't have one without the other
that we can't have freedom without the suffering of another.

Is it really true that we must 'defend our values' 
from an enemy who's
                                      contrarian
                                                        totalitarian
                                 Presbyterian?         

Is it really our freedom that we're fighting for?
Or are we asked to kill and die 
so that a group of billionaires can make war
on our 
            soil
                   air
        minds
                   souls?

If that is the price of freedom
then it should not be paid.
If the truth cannot be told
then the lie should not be sold.

In our amazing global village
that freedom's over and done.
In its place there should come
a different freedom,
a better one.

A freedom that includes you, me, and the other.
A freedom that does not reduce the unlucky ones to cannon fodder.
Freedom for all instead of top-down control.

That, to me, is what it means
to be truly free
to be exactly who you want to be
to be accepted for who you are
regardless of whether your flag has stripes, sickles, or stars
to live your life as you see fit
without turning the lives of others into utter shit.

So please,
presidents, plutocrats, and politicians
CEOs, economists, and statisticians
on this day, and all the others,
let us not
                 pontificate
                                     obliterate
                  proliferate
but instead
                                     cooperate

Let us not drown our dreams in endless war,
but find a better freedom to be thankful for.

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