Sometimes, after learning how expensive their happiness is, people leave Omelas. They suddenly realize that they live in an illusion, in fact, having no choice.
Not having freedom.
And then they go on a quest to find true freedom. Penetrate the very essence of the word. People sort through various options, seek interpretation in thick dictionaries and meanings in different languages.
Meeting many people on the way, those who leave Omelas ask about freedom.
- Liberty? - says the old woman. “I have no time to think about it.”
Can't you see, the soup is running. And then you also need to feed the kids.
Hmm, the traveler thinks to himself, putting on the table an empty cup of tea, kindly offered by the old woman.
It can be seen that she is not free from the fuss of the house. So many children, all dress and feed. Yes, and I, if you think about it, always need something to eat.
The traveler puts a cup in a sink full of half a dozen others. The old woman wound up and forgot to wash them.
He kindly reminded her, thanked for the hospitality and left.
“Yes, different people come here,” looking after him, the old woman grumbles. - They say: the dishes are dirty - where can there be freedom?
When leaving those who leave Omelas, they think:
“So is it impossible to be free? We are captive of our needs, desires, opinions of others. Is it bad? Do not tidy up the old woman in your house, do not feed the children, what would they think about her?
Perhaps she likes to knit, but if she had surrendered to this matter completely, forgetting about all the other things, she would have been considered crazy. And if the old woman didn’t cook, she would soon die of hunger.
That is freedom? Death? You don’t eat, don’t sleep there, and you don’t have to think about dirty dishes. ”
But from the thoughts, they are distracted by the loud cries of the crowd.
- For freedom!
The traveler looks at the grand procession of people in black cloaks and white masks. Hoping he stops one of them.
- Where are you going? For freedom?
“Exactly,” the man answers.
Now our freedom does not belong to us, but we are going to pick it up. We are struggling with power that belittles our rights and prevents people from living the way they want.
But having freed ourselves from such power, we will be free to choose our fate. To build a bright and fair society where everyone has a choice and the right to happiness.
The traveler is thoughtful, not noticing how a black cloak slips out of his hands and mixes with the crowd.
“Probably you want to live where I came from,” the traveler muses. - In a world of happiness. You are inspired, but, like I once, are engulfed in illusion.
What price do you have to pay, how many to kill, how much to lose ... What will you do when you suddenly realize that you have lost? When you have to pay. When you see your little boy in the basement ... ”
They looked after the crowd. Those who left Omelas. They watched for quite some time, and at times, it seemed, they even wanted to join. Maybe it's worth it? Maybe the price is justified?
And then they moved on. And this did not mean the end of all their doubts, no. They just decided to go. Farther.
The marvelous flute melody attracts the ears of travelers. Then the hermit plays on the bridge.
The hermit was somewhat similar to those who left Omelas. So it seemed to them. He was going somewhere too. But the answer they heard, asking him their usual question, struck to the core and forced to listen carefully.
“I am free,” was his answer.
The hermit said that he had long left the house, leaving everything that he had ever cherished. He did not carry a hiking backpack with him, for all the time the travelers had never seen how he ate or drank. He went nowhere and nowhere, without a specific goal, without an exact route.
His words, thoughts, were light and did not yield to any structure, logic. Without fear, he would say whatever he wanted, he could chat for an hour, and then shut up for two. Gradually, the attention of the travelers was dispersed, they simply could not keep track of the thought.
And then he flew away. After all, the hermit was not attached to anything that was not in this world, and therefore a light blow of the wind could take him away, leaving those who left Omelas with an obsessive thought that they were starting to go crazy.
Completely entangled in hundreds of definitions, travelers go without analyzing the road. They go farther from the city of happiness, from the chorus of voices, where everyone in his way screams about freedom.