Oranges and Lemons

Hello again, my dear readers.

    I am happy to have the opportunity to write again. I want to talk to you about Ingsoc today. After hearing about the hangings I felt mortified. Is this really something we have all come to accept? Why is it normalized to watch our fellow comrades being slaughtered? It doesn't feel right to me and I urge all of you to think about this. That could be you one day. That could be a comrade you know well and better than most. And they hang because of thoughtcrimes and facecrimes they committed living their ownlife.

    Why must our own nervous system be our worst enemy? That, to me, feels convoluted. To live a life scared that your own thoughts and face might be the reason you are the next person to hang in a square. And I know to many of you this sounds just like duckspeak and the ramblings of a traitorous lunatic, but I have accepted that my thoughts can be called thoughtcrimes. I choose to take pride in that because at least that is something of my own. I chose to accept the ownlife I was living. When I was close with the Party and Big Brother, I remember tasteless food, ragged clothes, and oily 'Victory Gin' being the best I had. But living like that made me feel cheated. 

    Now that I am away from the Party I live amongst the comrades we know as proles. And let me tell you, they are not the animals Big Brother tells us they are. The proles are strong and resilient people who I have seen do great things. 85 percent of Oceania is made up of the proles. To the proles of this land, just think of what you could accomplish if you stand together. You shouldn't have to settle for less than you deserve. I truly believe that you could make a change and challenge Big Brother even today if you all stood together. Think about all that you are missing. About the life and love that you are forbidden from having.

    I'll leave you all with a rhyme I remembered this morning. I haven't heard it since I was just a boy, and I thought that maybe a few of you readers might recognize it as well:

Oranges and lemons,

Say the bells of St. Clement's.

You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.

When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.

When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,
Says the great bell of Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

    I will write again soon,

    Emmanuel