Burdens are the foundations of ease and bitter things are the forerunners of pleasure.

–Rumi

Sometimes oppression comes from without when some people seek abusive power over others on any scale from a 2 person relationship to a dictatorial regime using fear and violence to achieve their ends.

Sometimes we oppress ourselves by having expectations that are beyond our power to reach or by giving into fear or desperate need for security.

The first defense and initial step to throwing off oppression is to recognize it and name it so that it becomes possible to see its limits and weaknesses.

The second step is to counteract oppression wherever you can. Stand up to it and move out of the cage it has put you in giving you a view of the world outside the absurdity of life in a trap.

Question the authority which has you under its thumb and make plans for safe routes of escape so you can take with you what you will need beyond the walls.

Hope has feathers to help you fly, but you must grab the opportunities when they show themselves. Grab and hold on with all your spirit and courage never let go of that bright bird.

knowledge and enlightenment assist courage and hope. You must teach yourself, with the help of those who have escaped and those who are learning to do so, to unlearn fear and doubt and relearn action and conviction.

There are many forms of oppression and domination which become invisible–the new normal

— Michel Foucault

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances there is a twilight when everything seems unchanged, and it is in this twilight that we must be most aware of the change in the air– however slight– lest we become unwitting victims of darkness.

— William O. Douglas