A Tale of a Pirate

I have decided to sail the waters of freedom. Ironically, it is not the easiest of routes — I would even say it is the one that binds me the most.

I feel as though I do not know where I am going, on my little raft, with my little mast, navigating by faith, because there is no reliable compass for this strange ocean.

And so I rise every morning and I sail, nearly blind, nearly without bearing, as vigorously as I can, ready to face the turmoil, ready to face the storms.

There were many who cheered me on from the dock. But now that I am out on the ocean, they think I am a fool. "Find a ship and board it, you will go faster," they tell me. And I answer: I will go faster, but it will not be a path I have chosen. Besides, my ambition is either to seize the ship or to become one myself — and I am far too poor an actor to play the spy.

But I remain aware. Yes, aware! Aware that I need a ship to go faster. Only, we are at sea, and the only way for me to become a ship is to take from others what they have: to become a barbarian, and to strike.

So I forge my weapons from the few remaining pieces of my little raft, and I strike vigorously, from every side, never hesitating to shift and shift again my angles of attack. Boarding ships quietly and methodically, armed with nothing but my courage, my resilience, and my last plank of wood.

But whether it is with a greater ship or with my little raft, I have set myself a destination and I will reach it. I will make it to the other side — they say the sky is bluer there, and the air is fresher. Truthfully, I am not entirely convinced. For having become a sailor, with the experience of the sea that I carry, I do not know if there is a sky more beautiful than the one I see every day — save for the dark days — nor air fresher than the one I breathe right now. And yet, I am curious to see what lies on the other side.

It seems long, but the journey is exhilarating. And in any case, the storms and the rains will come. I will withstand them, or, in the worst of times, I will succumb. But whatever happens, I will remain proud — for I am the master of my fate, and I am the captain of my soul.