freedom and equality

Meet me; I am the harbinger of civilization. I represent the quintessence of creativity and individuality. I am free and unimpeachable. I am above all.
I have a friend, my only friend. She is not like me; she lives with other people who are like her. She speaks a language, the semantics of which do not permit her to use ‘I’ before ‘they’. I sometimes envy her for she is popular. But her plight devastates me for she seems to be fettered in chains of social responsibility. I have tried to help her but she won’t listen. She says I’m colorblind. I don’t understand her.
My name is Freedom and she is Equality.
I remember our first date; I was replete with exaltation and frenzy. She felt the same but wouldn’t show it. Her voice was inspiring yet so bland, her eyes blissful yet so distant. I like driving fast. But she wouldn’t let me. My anticipation grew as we approached the ball. She spoke of the people, their attire, and their customs. Somewhere inside me I felt in visceral fear creep in, for convivial gatherings intimidated me. They say great people find inspiration in little things. I find my stimulation in dance. Though I can be conspicuously unconventional at times, but when I dance, I do so with a complete apathy of all around me. That day I danced my heart out, a grotesque avant-garde performance; at least that is what I thought. I was wrong. They stared at me as if I had committed blasphemy. I didn’t care for their gibes. My eyes searched for Equality’s and finally met them. She seemed to see right through me. Her eyes told me all. She, like them wanted me to change.
I accepted Equality and her world. I compromised my liberty for benevolence and brotherhood. I like my equals drove within speed limits, danced to the rules, and ate according to the menu. I could not blame them; they were equals or rather should I call them puppets striving for economic and social parity. But it gave me jitters when I saw myself among them, working towards a goal that did not exist. What love could do to a man? “What kind of a society is this”, I asked Equality, “it penalizes genius and rewards mediocrity; economically, it murders the goose that lays the golden egg; it dehumanizes humanity and sometimes causes it to suffer indescribable pain”? She had always been proficient with words. Her reply was in her usual nonchalant tone, “the pain is promethean for it is for the greater good. It is the inherent human aspirations that are the cause for man’s greatest sufferings. We have learned to curb desire, as a result independence has ceded it place to interdependence”. I was befuddled. Though now I was able to see the colors I lost my ability to choose between them. That day at night I stole from my tent to see Equality for last time.
Memories of Equality linger on. I probably still stay in her heart and she would not let me go. Freedom however has moved on. Today, he walks the corridors of the power and prestige. His name finds its place in the highest echelons of civilization. His company includes visionaries like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Richard Branson, and Vijay Malaya. He admires free thinkers, scientists, mavericks and nonconforming artists for he finds solace in their work. Solitude for him is not a sacrifice it is a privilege. He drives fast in his new Ferrari. His hair carry the wind and eyes shine with hope. He is free again, unleashed.
Equality still lives with her people. I live in her heart. It is a happening place, her heart. There is room for almost everybody, no place for vanity though. I have begun to understand these people through the eyes of Equality. ‘She and I’ often venture out to the fields after the rains; she finds immense pleasure in the rainbow. She explains to me the hierarchy; I guess I have finally begun to understand colors. I try to persuade her. I speak of the riches, the opportunities that wait for her only if she was to take my hand. She responds didactically, “Free people can never be equal and equal people never free”. I am held by her charm, speechless.

- Siddhartha Proothi