Education is Liberation

Education is Liberation

I am 33 years old. I am 17. I am retired.
I am a Pakistani girl that refused to be scared.
I am students occupying a university.
I am a library volunteer.

Value me or I am forgotten.
Cherish me or I become fake news.
Love me or I turn into a product.
Challenge me or I calcify to dogma.

I scare you.
I dare you.
I whispered into your ears that you could be better.
I painted you a picture of a world different.

I am the astrophysicist smiling in the stars.
I am the nurse holding your hand.
I am the teacher that saw past your anger.
And instead wiped your tears.
I am the mother who worked 3 jobs,
So you would not have to.

Read me in books.
Hear me in songs.
Breathe me as you fly.
Whisper of me to your children.

I founded your cities.
I laid your roads.
I ploughed your fields.
I fixed your bones

Why did you hate me?
Why did you forget?
Why did you let others pollute me?
Why did you say nothing?

Blood is still spilled in my name.
Many fear my power.
For I am the world creator and the world destroyer.
Gold into ash, ash into magic.

Who am I?

I am revolution.
I am the voice inside your head. Pushing you. Always pushing you.
I am liberation.
I am education.

By Ian Shaw, 2018