Maybe freedom is only a long lost dream, like this melody of words which my mom made me memorize once but now I can’t remember.
Like you can’t imagine flapping your wings and flying over a long water stream, while you’re locked away in a cage.
Because maybe everything that happens seems surreal, nothing real, and all you can do is cry and scream.
Because every day you try to decipher what is reality while living in dismay and everyday is another struggle to prove yourself innocent.
Or insisting that you have changed and just yearning for anyone to hear that you have been tortured, and then realizing that no one will hold you close.
Because no one knows what happened that day but they have you locked up so they can punish your last name.
So every day for you seems like the continuation of a fragmented nightmare which haunts your mere existence and it refuses to fade away because it reappears each day.
And it feels like everywhere you look hate is filled in everyone eyes because the perception they have of you is fed with lies and you just keep getting criminalized.
No one wants to understand life from your eyes.
So all you can do is curl up in your colt and cry because in the middle of nowhere it seems like there is absolutely nothing else to do, nowhere to hide because you have become a mockery and no one will share your plight.
This must be the life of Omar khadr, now a young man who was imprisoned at the age of fifteen; he has spent three quarters of his life behind bars.
It’s like they keep him contained in a jar.
Omar is charged with attempted murder, killing an American soldier with a grenade, conspiracy and providing support to terrorism and spying, but he should have been labelled a child soldier.
But with proper education he could have been a star, but his childhood was taken away when they treated him like an adult and labelled him an enemy combatant.
And maybe in his thoughts Omar thinks of freedom but after these eight long years locked away I’m sure it’s hard to fathom.
Every day the ones in charge,
Tease him,
Hurt him,
And force him to admit to his alleged crimes while they put him through heinous conditions like various stress positions,
water boarding
and freedom hording.
And maybe even if Omar saw raindrops he would see his sadness raining from the sky because he is the youngest prisoner in Guantanamo and the only Westerner still awaiting justice.
In 2009 it was revealed that the Canadian government spent over 1.3 million dollars to ensure that Khadr stayed put in Guantanamo, Canada didn’t want him brought home.
But what’s ironic is that he is a Canadian citizen and Canada always holds strong to children’s rights and their development but they are denying Omar’s fundamental human rights because they won’t repatriate him.
But how could this child have grown when they had him locked in solitary confinement when he needs so much nurturing and kindness.
Rather they built up apprehension and tension so that they could scare him into any confession.
You see 8 years ago the Bush administration made it legal to torture the prisoners in Guantanamo because the Geneva Conventions and the Convention of the Rights of the child didn’t apply to them, to him.
This is this is the justice of politics, but what are politics when they don’t adhere to the mere essence of treating everyone with dignity? What is the need of higher authorities when they are biased and unworthy themselves?
Two presidential elections have passed but this young adult still waits in his cell, awaiting a military trial. How can justice be served when the process is flawed from the start?
How can justice come of out this process when only the law of war applies to the ones on trial?
What happened to the promises of closing this inhumane which is full of lies and pain all broken promises like a broken glass vase, split in so many parts that it can no longer be fixed.
Omar awaits an unfair trail while bureaucrats, diplomats, military commissioners play games with his fate.
This trial is a mockery to justice because it bears no glad tidings just increases hardships.
Language is used to obscure the truth because their truth is full of lies.
Torture and other heinous acts make up Omar’s life because compassion and love he is denied.
He has been called names like murderer and butcher and he has been threatened with rape so maybe he appears to be hard but that’s how he has to be because that is the only way to survive the life he is being forced to live but maybe Omar in reality just wants to live and laugh.
Maybe he is like a normal child, curiosity takes the best of him and like most young people he just wants to try new things.
Maybe it isn’t true that time goes like a breeze because he has felt the heavy weight of every day and maybe it’s only those few sweet memories he has that keep him alive like the time he watched the sun leave the sky.
Canada has failed in their mission to retrieve their citizen because they refuse to accept that Omar was a juvenile and so should have been treated like a child soldier.
Canada’s federal government said it was an obligation to bring Omar back and then the Supreme Court in 2010 ruled that Omar’s rights had been violated and denied but soon after they stopped worrying about bringing him home.
Maybe like everyone else Omar too has dreams but he has been denied this life and maybe he hates this life but he continues to hold on to the rope of God because he knows that God is on the side of justice.
And maybe the immensity of his imam keeps him strong and he bows to God because he knows that will make him strong.
And maybe Omar practices forgiveness.
Because you see forgiveness is like being close to God.
Forgiveness is knowing that God is listening, He hears your pleas.
And maybe one should forgive their oppressors because there will be one day when the truth shall be known and visible like water that is crystal clear.
Because maybe forgiveness is like moving on with your life.
Forgiveness is not letting your oppressors eat you alive.
Forgiveness is making yourself better and trying to live each day in a respectable way.
Forgiveness is believing in hope.
Forgiveness is praying that one day justice will rain and everyone will be drenched.
Maybe forgiveness is like taking everything in your life and being satisfied while praying for better days.
Maybe we should all wish for forgiveness because forgiveness is everything we have.
Maybe forgiveness is knowing that you are not alone because there are people all over the world who love you and are fighting for you.
Maybe forgiveness is staying strong, for you.
Maybe forgiveness is remembering that someone remembers you.
Forgiveness is God’s mercy, contained in your heart.
And maybe forgiveness is knowing that God is by your side and this life is temporary.
Because maybe forgiveness is freedom in your heart and not a dream and you are already breaking your cage and flying.
Like you can’t imagine flapping your wings and flying over a long water stream, while you’re locked away in a cage.
Because maybe everything that happens seems surreal, nothing real, and all you can do is cry and scream.
Because every day you try to decipher what is reality while living in dismay and everyday is another struggle to prove yourself innocent.
Or insisting that you have changed and just yearning for anyone to hear that you have been tortured, and then realizing that no one will hold you close.
Because no one knows what happened that day but they have you locked up so they can punish your last name.
So every day for you seems like the continuation of a fragmented nightmare which haunts your mere existence and it refuses to fade away because it reappears each day.
And it feels like everywhere you look hate is filled in everyone eyes because the perception they have of you is fed with lies and you just keep getting criminalized.
No one wants to understand life from your eyes.
So all you can do is curl up in your colt and cry because in the middle of nowhere it seems like there is absolutely nothing else to do, nowhere to hide because you have become a mockery and no one will share your plight.
This must be the life of Omar khadr, now a young man who was imprisoned at the age of fifteen; he has spent three quarters of his life behind bars.
It’s like they keep him contained in a jar.
Omar is charged with attempted murder, killing an American soldier with a grenade, conspiracy and providing support to terrorism and spying, but he should have been labelled a child soldier.
But with proper education he could have been a star, but his childhood was taken away when they treated him like an adult and labelled him an enemy combatant.
And maybe in his thoughts Omar thinks of freedom but after these eight long years locked away I’m sure it’s hard to fathom.
Every day the ones in charge,
Tease him,
Hurt him,
And force him to admit to his alleged crimes while they put him through heinous conditions like various stress positions,
water boarding
and freedom hording.
And maybe even if Omar saw raindrops he would see his sadness raining from the sky because he is the youngest prisoner in Guantanamo and the only Westerner still awaiting justice.
In 2009 it was revealed that the Canadian government spent over 1.3 million dollars to ensure that Khadr stayed put in Guantanamo, Canada didn’t want him brought home.
But what’s ironic is that he is a Canadian citizen and Canada always holds strong to children’s rights and their development but they are denying Omar’s fundamental human rights because they won’t repatriate him.
But how could this child have grown when they had him locked in solitary confinement when he needs so much nurturing and kindness.
Rather they built up apprehension and tension so that they could scare him into any confession.
You see 8 years ago the Bush administration made it legal to torture the prisoners in Guantanamo because the Geneva Conventions and the Convention of the Rights of the child didn’t apply to them, to him.
This is this is the justice of politics, but what are politics when they don’t adhere to the mere essence of treating everyone with dignity? What is the need of higher authorities when they are biased and unworthy themselves?
Two presidential elections have passed but this young adult still waits in his cell, awaiting a military trial. How can justice be served when the process is flawed from the start?
How can justice come of out this process when only the law of war applies to the ones on trial?
What happened to the promises of closing this inhumane which is full of lies and pain all broken promises like a broken glass vase, split in so many parts that it can no longer be fixed.
Omar awaits an unfair trail while bureaucrats, diplomats, military commissioners play games with his fate.
This trial is a mockery to justice because it bears no glad tidings just increases hardships.
Language is used to obscure the truth because their truth is full of lies.
Torture and other heinous acts make up Omar’s life because compassion and love he is denied.
He has been called names like murderer and butcher and he has been threatened with rape so maybe he appears to be hard but that’s how he has to be because that is the only way to survive the life he is being forced to live but maybe Omar in reality just wants to live and laugh.
Maybe he is like a normal child, curiosity takes the best of him and like most young people he just wants to try new things.
Maybe it isn’t true that time goes like a breeze because he has felt the heavy weight of every day and maybe it’s only those few sweet memories he has that keep him alive like the time he watched the sun leave the sky.
Canada has failed in their mission to retrieve their citizen because they refuse to accept that Omar was a juvenile and so should have been treated like a child soldier.
Canada’s federal government said it was an obligation to bring Omar back and then the Supreme Court in 2010 ruled that Omar’s rights had been violated and denied but soon after they stopped worrying about bringing him home.
Maybe like everyone else Omar too has dreams but he has been denied this life and maybe he hates this life but he continues to hold on to the rope of God because he knows that God is on the side of justice.
And maybe the immensity of his imam keeps him strong and he bows to God because he knows that will make him strong.
And maybe Omar practices forgiveness.
Because you see forgiveness is like being close to God.
Forgiveness is knowing that God is listening, He hears your pleas.
And maybe one should forgive their oppressors because there will be one day when the truth shall be known and visible like water that is crystal clear.
Because maybe forgiveness is like moving on with your life.
Forgiveness is not letting your oppressors eat you alive.
Forgiveness is making yourself better and trying to live each day in a respectable way.
Forgiveness is believing in hope.
Forgiveness is praying that one day justice will rain and everyone will be drenched.
Maybe forgiveness is like taking everything in your life and being satisfied while praying for better days.
Maybe we should all wish for forgiveness because forgiveness is everything we have.
Maybe forgiveness is knowing that you are not alone because there are people all over the world who love you and are fighting for you.
Maybe forgiveness is staying strong, for you.
Maybe forgiveness is remembering that someone remembers you.
Forgiveness is God’s mercy, contained in your heart.
And maybe forgiveness is knowing that God is by your side and this life is temporary.
Because maybe forgiveness is freedom in your heart and not a dream and you are already breaking your cage and flying.
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