The prompt used: “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” -Braveheart (quote)
When the warring civilization attacked Earth, many a good person went to war with them, quoting an old movie from the 1990s. They were blinded by their own ideals, their excessive belief in themselves and our war technology despite of Earth being heavily into pacifism and commerce over war and conquering for a couple of centuries.
None of the people I heard going to the war shouting “they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom” did not return. Their deaths were in vain, a useless sacrifice that only caused grief to their loved ones. Their sacrifice did not do anything to stop the invasion or prevent any attacks on us. It merely thinned our already thinning numbers.
I was grateful for each life that I saved by convincing people not to go into war, and after seeing what had become of those foolhardy ones who refused to listen, many of them came to me to thank me for talking them out of getting themselves killed.
If only the others had listened, too. Then we would have so much more personpower operating and restoring the underwater and underground facilities that we now have to use as sanctuaries. With the flood of people coming to the sanctuaries from all over the planet, we could use every single person capable of working with us to keep us from starving to death under the surface.
I’m most worried about the underwater facilities; as the invasion had kept advancing, many have speculated that we have to either abandon the underground sanctuaries for the underwater ones or permanently flood their surroundings to keep them as sanctuaries — neither of which are good, easy options.
Although, as long as we keep working to live under the circumstances that have been imposed on us, I suppose the old quote is right. They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom as people, no matter where we are.
After all, our neighbors a galaxy away have already proved that it is correct: while they lost their home, they still live as free people on other planets, our Earth included.
When we get through this, we will emerge from the water and the ground as free people. That I am certain of.
WindySilver 