The Birdcage
What will you choose freedom or love ?
Yeah you'll think how both are related ?
Let's explain it with a short story…
Arin once asked her:
"If you were a caged bird and I opened the door, would you fly away?"
Devashi smiled faintly, her eyes reflecting a sadness he couldn't name.
"No," she whispered. "Because the sky is too lonely."
Arin laughed, thinking she was joking. But later, lying awake in the silent dark, her words scratched his thoughts like broken glass.
Devashi had always lived inside walls — not of metal, but of comfort.
Safe. Loved. Protected.
But never free.
Arin hated those walls.
He wanted to set her free, to show her the wild skies where no one decides when you sing, when you eat, when you sleep.
But Devashi knew something Arin didn't:
"The wild isn't freedom, Arin.
Freedom is just another name for being alone."
One night, Arin brought her to the hill where the horizon burned gold against the dying sun.
He pointed to the endless expanse above.
"Look," he said softly. "That's where you belong."
She stared at the fading light, her voice barely audible:
"Do you know what happens to a bird that has been in a cage too long?"
He waited.
"It forgets how to fly."
Arin's heart tightened.
He realized she wasn't scared of falling.
She was scared of flying alone.
"Then come with me," he whispered, taking her hand.
"We'll fly together."
For the first time, she smiled — a real, trembling, fragile smile.
But then she shook her head.
"You'll get tired, Arin.
One day, you'll want the sky,
and I'll still want the cage."
And in that moment, he understood the cruelest kind of slavery:
Not the chains you hate…
but the ones you love too much to break.
That night, Arin walked her back to the cage, closed the door gently, and stepped away.
He never opened it again.
Not because he didn't love her.
But because he loved her too much to set her free into a loneliness she feared more than the bars around her.
Years later, he'd still visit that hill and whisper to the wind:
"The saddest birds aren't the ones trapped in cages…
…they're the ones who fear the sky."
"If you ask a caged bird whether it wants freedom but to live alone forever, or to stay caged but be loved forever…"
what do you think it'll choose?
It'll choose being loved over live alone forever . It'll just skip over the words freedom or cage.
It's just matter or prespective.
And all this , we're not talking about birds anymore.
"Freedom without love is emptiness,
but love without freedom is another kind of cage."
If a bird has been caged its whole life, fed daily, petted, adored, and sung to…
…then one day you open the cage door and say:
"Go. Be free."
Most birds won't fly away.
Not because they can't…
…but because they've traded freedom for the illusion of safety, comfort, and love.
Now, apply that to humans.
We crave connection more than freedom.
Deep down, many would rather be caged with love than fly alone forever.
Because what's the point of freedom,
…if you're free but no one is there to share it with?
We say we want freedom,
…but the truth? Most people choose belonging over independence.
Because:
• Loneliness is terrifying
• Love feels like survival
• Without connection, freedom feels… empty
This is why people stay in toxic relationships, unfair jobs, or even oppressive systems.
They aren't weak.
They're wired to choose love over liberty.
Even prisoners form deep friendships.
Even slaves sang songs of hope together.
We need each other more than we need the sky.
Some cages don't have locks.
We could leave.
We could break free.
We could chase the sky.
But we don't…
…because our hearts are tied to someone else's hands.
It's not the cage that holds us.
It's the fear of being unloved.
Freedom is romantic… but it's lonely.
A bird in the wild hunts for food, fights predators, sleeps cold, lives alone.
A bird in a cage sings softly, gets fed, feels safe, hears "I love you" every day.
Humans aren't so different.
When you strip everything else away -
status, money, rules, systems -
most of us want one thing more than freedom:
To matter to someone.
To be loved, even if it costs us the sky.
But here's the tragedy…
Love inside a cage is sweet… until the day you realize it isn't freedom.
By then, the sky looks so far away…
…that even if the door opens, your wings forget how to fly.
And maybe - just maybe -
that's the cruelest kind of slavery:
Not the chains you hate,
…but the ones you learn to love.
We can also refer our living environment as
"The worst slavery is when you don't even know you're a slave."
We work for system that offers freedom but working for someone isn't freedom at all.
Sometimes, love is the most beautiful cage…
…and sometimes, the open sky is the loneliest prison.