They Saved Themselves

Decades of designed insecurity morphed into centuries of unwanted dependency. It was an uneasy trade off; their lives for a job. No one acknowledged that their earnest attempts at self-sufficiency had been met with such unveiled hostility and violence that all mass efforts at independence halted. Revolutionaries became forgotten martyrs; their fiery sermons diluted into messages of unnatural peace. Remnants of their followers were written off as zealots or hatemongers. The pittance of wealth measured out temporarily pacified them until the compromise gave way to a new deal. There was no longer room for a middle ground. Either you had or you didn’t. They sat paralyzed as a new generation who hungered for more raised their heads. The youth were not content with survival. They wanted to live.