My words have dreams

Going on the train as a person of color really catches the attention of white folk, as if a stain were to sully the white fabric on the brand-new tuxedo for a beautiful gala night. Noticeable at any distance but not important in the grand scheme of life; only disrupting the duality between aesthetics and human conformity.

But not just the human eyes are the ones looking at you, the government also has eyes on me whenever I go out; those creepy, floating orbs glaring with unblinking focus and unyielding conviction. Why do they follow me you may ask, well because of my powers and what they represent to others. They think that a man that is able to rally a group of people easily with his voice can make a world-ending calamity by just stating it. So, in order for that not to happen, I’m followed on a constant basis every time I go out of my apartment.

My power is simple, the ability to input conviction and desire upon others with just the sound of my voice. I don’t know how it works myself or how I got them, but momma use to say that Great Grandpa Jermain was able to liberate an entire plantation by mere suggestions and whispers. Momma also told me not to be like Great Grandpa Jermain and be shot dead in the town square as a symbol of what not to do with a unique set of abilities.

The powers come in handy for menial things like borrowing money, food, or clothes, but it's also convenient when it comes to making spectacles and distractions. An example would be if I spoke out loud “I wish a riot would ensue” right at the end of a subway ride to a populated gateway, just as rush hour begins to stir the pot. And so I did.

The government’s eyes can only watch, and having my mouth covered with a mask is my greatest weapon yet. The government can’t legally know it was me and it will inconvenience them a lot having their floating eyes get lost with people as well as deal with public disturbances. To be fair though, I’ve been banned from select places like the bank and some governmental edifices, as they wrote in the official letter. I have some liberties as a human, but being a known public agitator grants me some limitations.

My outing on the other hand concerns my ultimate plan to cause as much mass hysteria as possible, greater than Great Grandpa Jermain, or maybe even greater than my own father who was let to speak on the radio once and took the opportunity to say, “Hit the person next to you”. Of course, this landed him in jail for several years; and solitary confinement for preventing measures. Some say that the guards must wear noise-canceling headphones when approaching him in his sound-proof cell. He’s also prohibited to speak to any visits.

I’ve come to respect my father and what he stood for, his beliefs were as sound as the next person, but he has his heart in the right place. The government on the other hand wants to use us as weapons for any upcoming wars against the Russians and the Afghans. But that’s neither here nor there, the government can’t control me unless they break some human rights in the process.

My plan has only two steps, one if you don’t count the first one. First, tape my voice. I’ve already experimented with how it works and figured that I can still send convictions to people through recorded messages. As long as they understand what it means the actions can be carried out. This begs the question of if it would work on other languages, but I’ve yet to try. The second step would be to have it broadcasted on the most heard section on either T.V. or radio. The plan can also be to utilize social media and go viral with the message; create detailed instructions that will make it impossible to delete the message and further my message at the same time. The plan can go in many directions depending on my ultimate goal, which is to clean my neighborhood. Sure, inadvertently I might create a catastrophe of organized proportions where everyone that understands English will only clean and clean until they deem it satisfactory, and then someone else will clean it because it was not satisfactory to them, and so on until it becomes an unmanageable issue.

I am painfully aware that not everyone is destined to become a hero, for some are tasked with becoming the villain of the story to further the exploits and ideals of the hero and create a happy ending. I am aware that my actions could lead to unforeseen events that may be irreparable but that’s not my concern, only the heroes. My words mean more than just words as they come out of my mouth; words have no ethics or morals with the purpose of communication.

The good thing is that public perception of the government is poor these days and if they do anything suspicious to my person it would still end in chaos. Crowds will form without me even uttering a word. However, I could make a counter plan for when that happens. Make up a backstory for me and warp any potential outcome that may happen to me. Downside…there’s none. Other than me dying my message still pulls through. Of course, not a foolproof plan by any measures, but there are more upsides than downsides, and at most a crowd will be mad at any given moment.

Regardless, be careful what you watch or hear, it might be me giving you that push to start a commotion or punching the person next to you. Or I could be lying and everything you read from me comes true, so go plant a tree and kick the closest molester.