Bleak is the future that looms over the earth. Trumpets rage and sirens screech, yet we are too busy reveling in the deafening monotony of compliance and complacency. Those who sit on golden thrones demand blind obedience, and who are we to resist? To wake up in the misery of what is truly happening? All that we can do is close our eyes in the comfort of familiarity and exploit a rotten system that is nigh impossible to change. All we need to do is sleep.

to whoever might read this.

Warnings serve no purpose anymore. Reports show everything around us is changing. Those who go with the flow, who are compliant and complicit, are rewarded with another chance to wake up. But those who dare question authority are told to follow blindly or be punished with eternal slumber.

And so, I sleep soundly.

I sleep because it does not affect me. I sleep because I am not hurt. After all, I am unaffected by what is happening. The signs are not for me. So why should I wake up when I benefit from the transaction? Why must I change when I can take advantage of the status quo?

Keep to yourself. Never cross the line of obedience—no matter how much brutality you witness, no matter how much deception is shoved down your throat. We are already chained to the wall, working for our lives. Learning to love your captors, waking up each morning, and accepting that we cannot escape—these are the first steps to attaining true contentment.

Even when you cannot feed yourself, be thankful for the roof over your head. Even when your home is taken away by terrible greed, be grateful you still have a place to wake up, to walk amongst the living. And even when you are crippled by those who are higher in the chain of command, be glad you have been given the chance to serve the nation one last time.

Unless you start abusing this broken and irreparable system to your benefit, you will never gain the upper hand against your peers. You must wake up and learn that to live better, you must exploit and abuse what you can to get ahead in this godforsaken life.

Power is everything in this unforgiving world. People put misogynists and mass murderers in places of power, yet wonder why we still cannot feed the common man. Can’t you please wake up and realize that nothing matters? They do not care, so why should we? Feed upon that power. Let it consume you. Become the corruption that others spit upon. And lastly, as a final helpful act, from one fellow man to another…

no other message is hidden in this letter.

Originally published in Heraldo Filipino Volume 39, Issue 2