CAGE by Jenil Malavia

CAGE

I know why the caged bird sings

-Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back Of the wind and floats downstream Till the c`urrent ends and dips his wing In the orange suns rays And dares to claim the sky.

The free bird thinks of another breeze And the trade winds soft through The sighing trees And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright Lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage Can seldom see through his bars of rage His wings are clipped and his feet are tied So he opens his throat to sing.

But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream His wings are clipped and his feet are tied So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with fearful trill Of the things unknown but longed for still And is tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.

IMAGINATION CAGED

nce upon a time there were some monkeys. They lived in a cage. One day they awoke to notice that a ladder had been placed right in the middle of the cage. Under the ladder hanging invitingly by a thread was a banana. It wasn’t very long before one monkey began to climb the ladder. But as soon as it did so, icy cold water sprayed down on all the monkeys. This happened each and every time one monkey set paw upon the ladder. Very soon each and every monkey was on the look out least one of its companions would try to climb the ladder. How the monkeys hated that water. They hated it so much they quickly learnt to attack any would be banana questor. In time the monkeys simply learnt to ignore the banana. It was as if it were not there at all. It was a taste too far. And then one day a new monkey arrived in the cage. It wasn’t very long before the new monkey saw the banana and began to climb the ladder. Immediately it was set up by the other monkeys and thrashed severely. It quickly discovered that the banana was taboo. As days went by more monkeys from elsewhere found themselves in the cage. Each in turn learnt the lesson. Typically it was the recent victims that punished the new transgressor the most. In fact the monkeys were so busy punishing each other that they failed to notice that their numbers were

remaining mysteriously the same. For every new monkey that appeared in the cage one of the original monkeys was removed. It wasn’t too long before every original monkey had gone. It wasn’t long until there wasn’t a single monkey in the cage that had experienced the icy deluge. In fact it wasn’t long before no monkey had any memory of why it was wrong to reach for the banana. It simply became something that was not done. It became something that almost could not be done, because it was beyond the imagination, and spending all their time in the cage imagination was something the monkeys had very little of. Imagine that! And imagine something else. The banana that remained there, day after day, so wholesome, so free from decay - the banana was plastic. The reality was this: the cage door was open!

here is a dog in a cage. Scientists rig one side of the cage so that every time the dog goes to that side of the cage she will get an electrical shock. Soon enough, the dog learns to stay on the other side of the cage. Within a few weeks, the scientists re-wire the cage so that she’ll get shocked on the side she was conditioned to stay on pain-free. As predicted, the dog learns to lay down on the opposite, formerly electrified side of the cage. After a time the scientists rig the entire cage so that no matter where the dog lays down, she will receive an electrical shock. At first, the dog paces around madly. Tries again and again to find a place with no pain. Eventually, the dog learns to put up with the shocks and lays down anyhow. Gives up trying to be comfortable and becomes zombie like. The dog no longer behaves like a dog, but more like a wounded ghost.The scientists open the cage and get the biggest surprise of all. The dog does not rush toward the door. The dog stays inside the cage. She has been conditioned to the pain of her “home.” She has been shocked into submission.When I hear this story (in a movie I watch last night), I shudder. I cannot stop thinking about it. It is painfully familiar...Conditioning. What we learn and try to re-learn. Make adjustments and then re-learn again. If it hurts when we do this, then we do

that. It is when it still hurts no matter what we do that we must pay attention. When I was with the disordered one the rules were constantly changing. I never knew which side of the cage would give me a shock. I was always changing my behavior based on avoiding a shock, but eventually, the entire cage was electrified. There was pain everywhere and I somehow learned to live with it, expect it almost. It was killing me and destroying who I was, so I became a zombie in order to endure. A ghost...He opened the door time and again through a variety of very clever and subtle D & Ds. Shocked though I was, I did not exit the cage. I had grown accustomed to the environment, believed I “needed to stay” to fix things, to make it comfortable no matter how much it hurt. I could no longer recognize myself, nor anything remotely good. I came to expect more pain, and that’s exactly what I got. It wasn’t until I absolutely had no choice but to abandon the cage that I somehow found the strength and courage to do so. It was truly a matter of survival. Exiting the cage has brought me back to life. Exiting the cage restored my true nature, my instincts, my spirit, my joy.

“Stone walls do not make a prison, nor do iron bars a cage.”

Our presumption of supremacy, the ancient belief that we have been granted dominion over other creatures and have the right to do with them as we please. Every corner of the grounds revealed our appetite for amusement and diversion, no matter what the cost.

DISPLAY

Animals in zoos are caged for life and deprived of the opportunity to develop and fulfill the full range of their interests and needs. They lose control over their lives and the environment they live in. Social animals are often forced to live in the misery of solitary confinement. Animals who would prefer to live alone are often forced into close contact with others.

Some animals are confined next to their predators, and some are held in crammed, barren environments where they are constantly bullied by cagemates. In zoos, many animals are taken from their families and sent to other zoos, or killed when their group size exceeds the space allotted to them. Animals can get extremely stressed by screaming visitors. They are subjected to camera flashes and the hordes of hundreds of people who spend each day in front of their cages to watch but learn nothing.

CONTROL

“ You cannot always control what goes on outside, But you can always control what goes on inside. ”

The Prisoner

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Stone n the winter of 1964, Nelson Mandela arrived on Robben Island where he would spend 18 of his 27

Through his intelligence, charm and dignified defiance, Mandela eventually bent even the most

prison years. Confined to a small cell, the floor his bed, a bucket for a toilet, he was forced to

brutal prison officials to his will, assumed leadership over his jailed comrades and became the

do hard labor in a quarry. He was allowed one visitor a year for 30 minutes. He could write and

master of his own prison. He emerged from it the mature leader who would fight and win the great

receive one letter every six months. But Robben Island became the crucible which transformed him.

political battles that would create a new democratic South Africa.

FREE dO M

“ Caged birds accept each other but flight is what they long for ” “ Caged birds accept each other but flight is what they long for ” “ Caged birds accept each other but flight is what they long for ” “ Caged birds accept each other but flight is what they long for ”

The jury found the verdict first degree They swore I planned her death to be I prayed they’d sentence me to die But they wanted me to live and I know why

pain

So I’d do life in prison for the wrongs I’ve done And I pray every night for death to come My life will be a burden every day If I could die, my pain might go away With trembling hands I killed my darling wife Because I loved her more than life My love for her will last a long, long time But I’d rather die than live to lose my mind And I’ll do life in prison for the wrongs I’ve done And I pray every night for death to come My life will be a burden every day If I could die, my pain might go away If I could die, my pain might go away -The Byrds

We cage ourselves by creating our own..

LIKES

DISLIKES

create space in our life

create bars in our life

in time those SPACES and BARS become a CAGE

are you CAGED?

References: http://www.wisehat.com/resources/stories/thecage.php http://www.lisaescott.com/2012/03/29/exiting-cage http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/prison/ http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/9862726 http://creed-of-flight.insanejournal.com/ http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings/on-lyrics-The-Byrds/63DE3EB 8131CAB5B482569A0001003B7dela/prison/ http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Life-In-Prison-lyrics-The-Byrds/63DE3EB8131CAB5B4825 69A0001003B7dela/prison/