Clamoring for independence

It has been a week since I last saw my friends pinned down, dragged, and carried into a patrol car. They were arrested, charged, and are now walking free, but still have to face the allegations against them. I'm finding it hard to sleep at night knowing how I enjoy my liberty while some had their own freedom taken. The sound of their screams and the tension that day cannot escape me, even in my quietest moments. I keep on telling myself that it is going to be okay. But when I saw multiple fake accounts of my name on social media, I questioned myself, "are we really this free?"

I know for a fact that I have been watched - not only because I am a public figure as my job demands it, but suspicions that I am part of the resistance. The group that is against the government because of my past connections in school. When the anti-terror bill is passed, anybody could be subject to surveillance and private conversations may be wiretapped. Isn't that scary at all? Unless you are apathetic and don't care about your freedom that has already has been trampled at this time, then this wouldn't matter to you at all.

It has long been questioned if we have independence. Year after year we commemorate the turn of events that took place 122 years ago, but we have never felt like we are on our own. Several nations have tried to guide us but in the end only used us to their advantage. There is no sovereignty to speak of when our government couldn't even make a stand on the land and waters that are supposed to be ours.

When I will have my own set of children, I wouldn't know how to explain to them the concept of freedom. Most especially when by the time they will be born, they will have with them the debts that their forefathers made on their behalf. It’s not easy to understand what it means to enjoy a free life when there will be other people putting their noses in your business. This is a difficult concept to digest, let alone believe in.

But maybe to some extent there is freedom but I don't know how long it will last. I feel like I am limited by the people around me, by those in authority who think so highly of themselves. There have been failed promises that sunk the country into even deeper debt from foreign countries.

There will come a time when we can no longer speak of what we think is right. We will be subject to scrutiny and judgment or even be placed behind bars. Is this what we want all over again? To be living in the life of the past? Martial law already came to us and it wasn't the brightest era at all. Do we want that all over again or not?