So to flesh out my theory… I asked myself why people would not be happy for the slaves that are freed. Because the slaves are going to be happy for sure. They will be giddy like the soldier and I. So why isn’t the collective happy for the slaves?
Is it because we need slaves? Is it because we need some people oppressed so that others can feel superior? Maybe that’s it. Maybe there are 100 reasons but as I got thinking about this I arrived at the one I liked the best and this is it:
Freed slaves… people released from oppression after enduring these type condition over a long period of time are not merely happy. They are supernaturally happy. And you don’t get to see this very often so when you do it’s stunning.
As an example there is my favorite photograph of all time which I cannot find. I wish I could so you could see the image but I don’t need to because it has burned to my mind and my psyche since I first laid eyes on the thing when I was 8 years old or so.
It is a ‘Best of Life Magazine” shot from the 60’s, a boy sitting on a stoop in I don’t know where. Some poor country I guess. It doesn’t matter because he and his emotion are universal. But he’s about 9 and he has dark hair and he’s sitting there on the stoop outside his home (presumably) and someone has given him some shoes.
Yep, he has these shoes. They are brand new shoes, he is either barefooted or the shoes on his feet are shabby, I don’t remember but he is holding this new pair of his shoes in his and and is he is overjoyed, the look on his face is indescribable. He is supernaturally happy and a person like me can relate to this. I know what that is like. I know exactly what it is like to be overwhelmed with that kind of joy over the smallest kindness. And this is something you just can’t understand if you can’t understand it. It sounds like this:
“What the hell is he so happy for?”
::smiles::
Or perhaps his emotions escape you completely or you turn the page of the magazine to look for an image you can better relate to, but here is my point:
Those slaves are HAPPY. They are beyond happy. They are over the top and if you see them perhaps you feel jealous. Perhaps you think, “Look at those assholes”. Because their happiness is extreme and yours is not and it never has been and you know it probably never will be. So maybe you’re pissed. Maybe you feel spiteful and you forget all about what the slaves have been though. You forget it, ignore, you discount it or whatever. You never mind the fact they have been deprived for years and years and years while you have not and this is the upside of Saturn. This is Jupiter in Capricorn personified. *I* am Jupiter in Capricorn personified and understanding this I don’t see how the soldier and I can fail. I don’t see any way possible for us to spend even one day unhappy for the rest of our lives. I just don’t think either one of us have the ability to be that ungrateful.
Have you ever met a freed slave? Are you a freed slave? (I have… this is my second time!)
You will love this movie: Children of Heaven.
A delightful Iranian movie about a boy who accidentally loses his sister’s shoes and must share his own sneakers with her in a sort of relay while each attends school at different times during the day. Finally, the boy enters a much-publicized foot race, hoping to place third. The prize: a new pair of sneakers. Directed by respected filmmaker Majid Majidi, Children of Heaven is just that — heavenly. (from netflix)
Robin – thanks. That made me cry just to read. Eeek!
Yes – I cried throughout the movie. The boy is the most adorable thing you have ever seen (excepting your own son, of course!).
Oh yes. When I was fourteen, I had just come out of a major bout of depression and anorexia and other mental illness and I had friends and boyfriends and self-esteem for the first time. I was outlandishly happy and people couldn’t stand it.
I hope to be a freed slave again soon. My moon is at 27 degrees Gemini and I have been oppressed for a while. I have been living in this abyss and not able to see any light at all. I know that when the clouds part I will be so exuberant and radiant people will not be able to look at me without sunglasses. XD
🙂 I am a freed slave in many ways, mostly spiritual/religious.
It’s been a rough ride.
I’m extremely intense and passionate about anything having to do with my religious beliefs (Saturn trine Neptune, maybe? I can’t say for sure, but I have a LOT of Saturn in my chart), and was raised in this very rigid system, that most people would probably not find all that rigid. Kids left and to the right of me grew up and found ways to circumvent the rules, mostly just by taking them lightly. Taking the rules lightly was never an option for me. So I lived in this world of bars and cement, very little sunlight or joy, rules, and everything was black and white.
My mother, who raised me in this belief system, is very happy there. This is because her life has had so many horrifyingly jarring events, I think. She clings to the stability. To her it’s not a cage, it’s safety (she’s a Cancer, too). But to me, it’s death. Wading into newbie waters here: but I have Moon Trine Uranus, Saturn Square Uranus, and Uranus Opposition Mars, Venus, and Midheaven… and a fucking WOLF TOTEM. Freedom is me is freedom. Is me. Is freedom. *pants for the freedom*
I had to disassemble my entire belief system back when I was about 24 or 25, and start from absolute ground zero. And I say “had to”, because in fact, it was killing me. I would not have lived another year with those beliefs. I couldn’t have. They were making me physically sick.
And it was like breaking free and getting to meet the real God for the first time. I found real joy, real meaning, real love. There was a reason for me to be the way I am. I am needed.
But I’m cagey. I’m very careful. Other Christians… they don’t like it. You aren’t supposed to define your own rules, and you aren’t supposed to do the things I do in my life and believe God’s okay with it. You sure as hell aren’t supposed to have a totem, or be into astrology, or like tarot, or collect crystals. Knowing as I do that the chains were in my own mind, I don’t offer my neck to those who are going to try and convince me to go back into that cage… I’d love to be more courageous, more of a crusader, and change the world in the image of the things I’ve discovered, but a) I know full well what happened to me happened because I’m different, and most people aren’t going to get it, and b) it’s too big a risk right now.
My own experience tells me that unless it just about kills them, most people will tolerate their chains their entire lives rather than upend the rules.
Um… excuse me, Robin but my son is a man, 😉
he is a man who calls me “Angel Face” to judge my reaction and practice his seduction techniques.
::shakes head::
You got me thinking about my natal Jupiter-Sun-Chiron/Saturn square and how long it took me to work out my crap. As a Libra who didn’t marry until she was 45, I am grateful every day for my Aries and even though the first rush of ecstatic happiness has settled into deep contentment, a bad day together is far, far better than one alone. Libra truly likes having an “other” to share life with . . . 🙂
Enjoy every single minute of your life with the Soldier . . . you both earned it!!
I am a freed slave, without a doubt.
Yeah Lupa, you are. And I am soooooooo happy for you!!!
“P”-
I can feel your happiness through the wires.
I picture you and the Soldier driving thru states like Thelma and Louise, EXCEPT this is a very happy ending/destination.
I can almost see the wind blowing your hair back.
Yeah, Jerri except we’ll be bickering. I finished your cookies… er, my cookies yesterday / this morning as the Moon left Cancer. I tried on my pants this afternoon and breathed a sigh of relief. Not like I have a lot of room, but you know. I’m in ’em!!
ewinbee, the phrase that comes to mind is one by William Blake–“mind-forged manacles.” A great Sagittarian, that guy. He could see the chains we put on ourselves as well as the spirits in the ether that no one could see.
It actually makes me tear up a little when I hear of “freed slaves.” I actually find it inspiring – as I have some “freeing” of my own to work at.
I really like everyone’s stories! I’ve got one…it morphs too fast to tell it.
Surviving is as surviving does…
I will be a freed slave! Working to get out of the oppression right now.
Midara,
That’s so cool. I could’ve written the same thing. I’m cappy, so not sure when it’s going to happen for me. Been a looooonnnnngggg oppression. But something recently shifted, so I’m waiting to see if I’m going to be free. Waiting, waiting . . .
Elsa! Hooray for you, girl! That’s SO SO Cool!! You’re an inspiration!
Yay Elsa you’re free as a bird ( and a love bird at that)
Loved this post – freed slaves always reminds me of the book/movie The Power of One.
I have met many freed slaves and have been one. Im all for freed slaves
“Angel Face”?? OMG, he’s doing to be a dangerous one… lol
He calls the girls in his school, “Doll face.” I have no idea how they take it, he sounds like a lounge lizard to me! 🙂
But I like the experimenting aspect of it.
The nostalgic in me likes that Vidroid is calling women “angel face” and “doll face,” tres classy and retro. The raging feminist in me really wants to stand agog.
It’s all so very amusing. . .. 🙂
I think I found your shoes…
Kim!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YES!
Thank you and yes, I am thaaaat happy!
Yes I am a freed slave ?
That is a beautiful picture of the boy with his new shoes. He is joy and gratitude personified.
The ability to be overcome with gratitude for a tiny thing, the purity of it is a beautiful thing to experience and sometimes heartbreaking to see in others.
I’m happy for every freed slave. I was bullied severely as a child. That did never really end. I hope that I’ll be free some day too. I’ve got an idea on why other people aren’t happy for freed slaves. Don’t expect empathy from somebody, who never experienced violence!
great blog and soooo true. I don’t know why people feel that way, but it makes sense that there are people out there that NEED to feel superior. If I know someone has suffered deeply it makes it all the more wonderful to know they are so happy, they deserve happiness!!
that is true too, “don’t expect empathy from somebody who never experienced violence”.
it is said that Abraham Lincoln desired to free the slaves because he felt like a slave his childhood; he understood.
yeah I can see that! to appreciate the smallest things.
I’m free! Finally. Different things held me prisoner. Mostly my own thoughts and beliefs.
I’m so happy for you, Libra noir! I can tell from your light energy, and your posts the past four, or more, weeks. 🙂
Thanks anonymous:) I know, as a freed slave that I want everyone to be as happy as me. I think truly happy people want this too.
Envy. It’s such an ugly trait, a shadow of the human psyche!
It’s ugly how some people can be envious/jealous/hateful of
a boy who has suffered for years.
@anonymoushermit, I think it’s more his happiness that they’re envious of.
I am familiar with the picture you mention of the boy with new shoes and that look of enraptured joy on his face. It’s an amazing photograph.
I think I’ve seen the lil boy with new shoes pic. Is this the one you are talking about:
http://blog.photoconcierge.com/the-austrian-boy-and-his-shoes/
even if it isn’t, the joy in this picture gives me happiness tingles, hope you enjoy it 🙂
Yes! Thank you. 🙂
I think I’ve seen the lil boy with new shoes pic. Is this the one you are talking about, sorry it’s not an https page:
blog.photoconcierge.com/the-austrian-boy-and-his-shoes/
even if it isn’t, the joy in this picture gives me happiness tingles, hope you enjoy it 🙂
Someone close to me has recently been liberated and she is positively GLOWING! Radiant like a pregnant woman! It is a sight to behold. She just glows and glows as she discovers a whole new world, a whole new life, opening up in front of her, SUPPORTING ger. Watching her, witnessing it all, warms the cockles of my heart. I am profoundly happy for her.