Freedom
Freedom
Sometimes it is tempting, for Sakata Gintoki, to act like Zura and think that things would be right in the world if the Amanto were driven out; to take up his sword and bloody his hands and, feeling the joyous pulse of battle coursing through his veins, say ‘This is freedom.’
It is so tempting, when Zura comes by and wheedles him with stories of comrades and glory days, to say ‘Let’s go, Zura,’ and rally the freedom fighters and run headfirst into the fight. Sometimes Gin can almost bring himself to do it.
Of course, most of the time Zura comes around, Gin wants nothing more than to tie him to a chair and tell him how stupid e is being; how the freedom fighters will never drive the Amanto out, and, if they do, it will be a stupid, pointless massacre that will leave the victors without victory; how he and his friends are throwing away their lives, how he’s wasting it, day by day, chipping away at it every time he makes another bomb; how one day he’s going to wake up and realize there’s nothing before him and only murder and the Shinsengumi at his back.
But Gin doesn’t: partly because Zura won’t like it, partly because Zura won’t listen, but mostly because Zura already knows everything that Gin could tell him, and, knowing, fights on with all his heart. There is only so much you can say who a man who is wearing earplugs.
So Zura runs off to save the world from the aliens, and Gin keeps quiet and minds his own business. It’s not a terrible way to live, for either of them; Gin is happy, and Zura has his anger and his fanaticism - and, yes, Elizabeth - to make a good enough substitute for happiness, for the moment.
But there are just some days - when Gin flops bonelessly on a bench at the park and takes a deep breath - when he wishes Zura could let go of everything and see. Because there’s blood and battle and taking over the government, and then there’s sitting on a bench next to an unemployed, chain-smoking idiot and teasing Shinpachi and watching Kagura play ‘frisbee’ with Sadaharu and a garbage can lid, and one of these things is freedom and one of them is not, and Zura is too blind to see the difference.
Sometimes it is tempting, for Sakata Gintoki, to act like Zura and think that things would be right in the world if the Amanto were driven out; to take up his sword and bloody his hands and, feeling the joyous pulse of battle coursing through his veins, say ‘This is freedom.’
It is so tempting, when Zura comes by and wheedles him with stories of comrades and glory days, to say ‘Let’s go, Zura,’ and rally the freedom fighters and run headfirst into the fight. Sometimes Gin can almost bring himself to do it.
Of course, most of the time Zura comes around, Gin wants nothing more than to tie him to a chair and tell him how stupid e is being; how the freedom fighters will never drive the Amanto out, and, if they do, it will be a stupid, pointless massacre that will leave the victors without victory; how he and his friends are throwing away their lives, how he’s wasting it, day by day, chipping away at it every time he makes another bomb; how one day he’s going to wake up and realize there’s nothing before him and only murder and the Shinsengumi at his back.
But Gin doesn’t: partly because Zura won’t like it, partly because Zura won’t listen, but mostly because Zura already knows everything that Gin could tell him, and, knowing, fights on with all his heart. There is only so much you can say who a man who is wearing earplugs.
So Zura runs off to save the world from the aliens, and Gin keeps quiet and minds his own business. It’s not a terrible way to live, for either of them; Gin is happy, and Zura has his anger and his fanaticism - and, yes, Elizabeth - to make a good enough substitute for happiness, for the moment.
But there are just some days - when Gin flops bonelessly on a bench at the park and takes a deep breath - when he wishes Zura could let go of everything and see. Because there’s blood and battle and taking over the government, and then there’s sitting on a bench next to an unemployed, chain-smoking idiot and teasing Shinpachi and watching Kagura play ‘frisbee’ with Sadaharu and a garbage can lid, and one of these things is freedom and one of them is not, and Zura is too blind to see the difference.