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Issue Number 4
Why I fight. The Declaration of Barry Boone
In Issue #2 of The Democracia I talked about the day I met Corina Ling Raleigh.
She was already at battle.
I remember it as if I can see her now, with her sparkling eyes, her head held high, her clean smile, her words lit from the fire in her heart.
Her presence touches the soul of Reginans and goes beyond all political ideologies, beyond the love and hatred she has experienced in her flesh. This woman rises up from the Imperium as a revindication, a war cry, the note that breaks through the crystal ceiling and powerlessness of so many women, men and children who find in her their hope. Mother of the dispossessed, venerated saint-like Corina, owner of an exhaustive work load, of a schedule which does not include time to rest, bearer of the sorrows of her people and of the necessity to dignify and empower the planet. She is going from dreams to reality, persevering and tenacious, a fighter, a hard wall to demolish. "No" is not part of her vocabulary. She kisses the refugees, the unwashed and says, ironically, "They [at least] will do me no harm.
From the first moment, I saw the shadows of her enemies, stalking her like vultures from above or like vicious snakes from the beaten earth. I thought Corina was too much alone, overly confident in the winning power of her ideals, believing the first thing anyone said as if it were her own generous and clean, sincere, and honorable words.
I was not drawn by her stature, her beauty, or the honors of her position. From the first moment, I saw her heart...and on top of the pedestal of her heart, the mast of her ideals holding the flag of Regina her people close to the sky.
I saw her immense solitude, like the solitude of the condor, like that of the highest orbit, like the solitude of stars in the immenseness of infinity.
And in spite of my smallness, I decided to accompany her.
To follow her, to be with her, I would be, would do anything - anything but change the course of her destiny! That was when I told her, “I am prepared to follow you, wherever you go.”
Little by little, I’m taking on her battles too. Just as she hopes you all will do. Sometimes her enemies provoke me with their treachery and lies. But the battle for truth and justice will only be won when all of the people arise to demand their rights and work for the good of all. The secret of Corina is that she does not extol virtue, she is virtue. She does not plead for you to join her, she just moves aside to make a place for you beside her as she works.
I decided to follow Corina, but not from a distance, knowing that she was surrounded by enemies and ambitious men, who disguised themselves with friendly words - and by friends who didn't even feel the heat of the shadow of her ideals. I want to spend the days of her life close to her, in the peace of her triumphs for the people, and in the battles of her fight.
I already knew that, like a condor, she was flying high and alone... And yet I had to fly with her!