I am very sad for men and women trapped in any relationship where

In the voice of Jasmine Guy, we hear not merely a personal reflection, but the cry of the human spirit: “I am very sad for men and women trapped in any relationship where there is cruelty, dominance, inequity. I long for the liberation of all people.” These words ring like a solemn bell across the ages. They remind us that bondage does not always wear the chains of iron; it can be found in the unseen prisons of the heart, where fear and oppression smother love. To recognize such sorrow is to see clearly the wounds that scar humanity, and to yearn for the healing of freedom.

The ancients themselves knew of these chains. In every age, there have been bonds of power wielded not in love but in domination. Husbands ruling over wives without mercy, masters commanding servants without compassion, rulers subjugating their people for selfish gain. Where inequity reigns, affection withers; where cruelty resides, the spirit bends and cracks. The words of Jasmine Guy stand in that same lineage of voices calling for justice, for in her longing is the echo of prophets, poets, and sages who cried out against oppression.

Consider the life of Harriet Tubman, who endured the lash of slavery, that most brutal of inequities. She did not simply mourn her bondage—she defied it. She fled through night and wilderness, and then returned again and again, not to live in comfort but to liberate others still chained. In her, the sorrow for those trapped became fuel for action, her compassion transforming into courage. Like Jasmine Guy, she longed for the liberation of all people, and her deeds lit a fire that still burns in history’s memory.

We may also remember Socrates, who spoke often of freedom of the soul. Though condemned by the rulers of Athens, he declared that no tyrant could truly enslave him, for freedom was born in truth and virtue. He died by the cup of poison, but he showed that true liberation begins when one refuses to submit inwardly to injustice. Even in death, he was freer than those who sought his silence. Thus, the call for liberation is not only the breaking of external chains, but also the release of the spirit from fear, from silence, and from acceptance of cruelty as “normal.”

The lesson, then, is this: do not endure cruelty in silence, nor allow inequity to be disguised as love. Where there is oppression, there can be no true union. Where one dominates and the other cowers, the sacred balance of relationship is broken. To the strong, let these words be a warning: use your strength not for harm but for protection, not for dominance but for partnership. To the weary, let these words be a comfort: you were not born for bondage; you were born for freedom.

What practical actions, then, must one take? First, speak truthfully of your pain. Silence only feeds the chains. Second, stand beside those who suffer; for liberation is not the task of one, but of many who walk in unity. Third, examine your own hands—are they lifting others up, or are they pressing them down? For inequity can live not only in nations, but in households, in friendships, in the hidden corners of daily life.

Let each of us resolve to become a liberator, even in small ways. Offer words of defense to the silenced. Extend kindness where cruelty has left scars. Build relationships not on dominance but on mutual respect, where love and equity stand side by side as pillars. And in doing so, we become the answer to the longing Jasmine Guy has spoken: the builders of a world where every soul is free.

For in the end, the true mark of a just life is not what we achieve for ourselves, but how deeply we have worked to set others free. May we remember this, and may our lives be lived as torches of freedom, burning away the shadows of cruelty, until the dawn of equity shines upon all.