We found ourselves in an unexpected time. The covid-19 pandemic has changed the lives of

us all. The government has ordered many measures.

Restrictions on movement in public, cancellation of events, wearing protective equipment ...

These are such measures that we can feel like

we are in a cage.

Schools have closed for schoolchildren,

students, and teachers. Teaching began online.

We had to get used to a new way of learning.

For some students, this method suits more

others less. We have space to devote to

activities that we have been postponing for a

long time.

On the contrary, we can also easily get into

procrastination and laziness. But the health of

us all is very important.

When I chose a photo on the subject of the

cage, I remembered my elementary school.

In front of the entrance to the locker rooms for

small children is the gate that is very similar to

a cage. That is why I combined the current

state of schools with a photograph from the

environment of my former school.

Dominika K.

Their life was short but several things happened

in it. Those that no one want to hear. There is one

reason for that. Nobody wants to know it, not even

you. You're afraid of it but it is still happening.

Behind the walls and without the possibility to

escape. You are with hundreds the same like you .

From their birth they live still the same way. Who

causes these things? We all know it but no one

wants to admit it.

After several weeks they see the sun for the first

time in their life. The door of the great hall opens.

The hall where they lived until then in the light of

a lamps. Hands in gloves pull them out. They

divide them into two groups. The first group is

load into the truck. They take them away. We all

know the end. They put the second group in cages.

Each of them has enough space only that they can

turn around. Nothing more. After a year they pull them out again. Some of them people buy

and take them home. The ones no one wanted, they take them away. The end is the same.

I didn't even mention who it was. Everyone can imagine. I don't want to force anyone to do

anything. Everyone has to think about it. Is it necessary? PF

¨

On the top of the paper is

quarantine for people, on the

bottom of the paper is all live

“quarantine” for rabbits. Rabbits

have one or two meal a day, live in

small cage. If they have luck so

they

go a

few

times to month jog in the garden. I read that minimum rabbit cage

is such that he can entre twice to diagonal of cage. Can we

imagine it? Each of us have room that is X times bigger then us.

We have food how match we wont. (Good is that the most of

Rabbits don’t know about freedom. They was born in cage, they

lived in cage and they died in the oven). Rabbits have quarantine

for all their live and we “cry” if we are in quarantine for three

months. In history most of Czech people live in “quarantine”,

behind the iron curtain. Iron curtain was on our borders for 41

years and Czech nation is still alive. The iron curtain has gone, coronavirus leaves too. Czech

Republic will survived probably better than after communism. We are already being released

from the imaginary cage and we will live on. States will gradually “heal” financial decline. We

are lucky that we live in freedom in middle of Europe and have only coronavirus as a big

problem. Daniel F.

I don’t agree with the caging of

animals.

It is best when animals can move

freely.

But for some pets a cage can be

beneficial.

For example rabbits.

If the rabbits lived in a rabbit hutch

since birth, they are pets,

so they don’t mind.

When the pens are big, clean with

plenty of food and water, the

rabbits are doing very well.

The rabbit hutch protects the pets from bad weather and predators.

You should not close wild animals in cages. Jozefína H.

NH

Last week I read in the newspaper iDnes some

interesting information about hens. Thousands of hens are in the

factory farming. They never see the sun, never eat grass, they

can’t fly and run, they don’t have good feathers. They "live" only

for one year in the cages. Why? It is cheaper.

The association "ZAzemí" buys these one year old hens to

their small gardens-farms at six places in Liberec region and takes

care of them alternately in seven families for one day at week. The

hens see for the first time the sun, they can eat grass, run. ..... In

three months they are as the others hens in the small farms. They

are "happy". They lay eggs more years (five to ten years).

The effect isn’t only keeping the hens away from factory farming, but people learn to not

buy eggs from cages breeding. MK

Hi, this is my story. My name is Ashley, I’m blackbird. If you ask why my name is Ashley,

I don’t know, maybe because it’s Short (Everyone always called me Ash). But I don't want to

talk about this.

I want to talk about something else.

I want to talk about this…

I think I was ten months old:

“...I want out! I WANT OUT!” I was screaming in a cage.

“Shut up, you stupid bird,” Said one of those teenagers who kept me in a cage. After that he

hit it (The cage logically). Of course they didn't understand me, Because people (mostly bad

people) don't understand animals. Luckily, it was seven o 'clock in the evening, and the boys

went home. I somehow managed to unlock the cage, then I flew away, I flew long, and I stopped

by some garden. I've settled there, and I was happy. In the garden they named me Ashley. I

finally had a place, not more cages.

Ashley (KV)

Even though the topic is „cage“, I won´t write about it, because I don´t feel like it. I´m having

really good time with my friends. Although this is no way a good time for the whole world, we

decided to take from it what we can. We´re staying safe, but having fun. The lockdown and

social distancing is nothing for me, but with my best friends I found the light at the end of

tunnel. ZL

When that time came, I picked to survive

Who would know it would be so hard?

My heart is still beating but I don’t feel alive

It feels like my soul fell apart

These chains are holding me back

Imprisoned in this darkness

I’m longing for just one outside check

How could they be so heartless

Picking me up just to hold me there

I thought it would be okay

In that moment I really wasn’t aware

That I would be forever away

I still remember the wind flowing my feathers

While I was flying troughs the sky

It felt like it was endless

Now I know it was a foolish lie

Yet there is no meaning for my tears

Because what was mine will never be again

My role is just be one of those birds

In this place I will now remain and be forgotten

No one will end my longing

In this dark and faraway place

But I still will be holding

I lost to the freedom in this race

PP

We have our little friend at

home. He is a long-haired half-

year-old guinea pig. His name is

Pepča, and she has lived in a cage

all his life. I don't know how

animals perceive it, but I couldn't

live in a cage. Maybe she likes it

there, and feels safe there because

when we take her out, she goes back

to the cage. We don't know the

answer to that yet :)

FS

Although I can feel

how I feel in a cage, I

don't have to. When I

cook good food, I

improve my soul and

body. Then I go on a

hike, along a few hills

around, my heart

doesn't hurt. Hike

isolation, or the cage

disassemble just for

fun. Views, distances,

pounds, I'm lucky

even without a cat.

However, when I can

sleep outside, I feel

like a king. Roast a

burrito on the fire, put

a sleeping bag. Chat

before bedtime with a

friend and then snore

until morning. That's

all I can say, maybe

just goodbye, nothing

more.

JS

The little cage in our cellar was empty. She was beautiful. She was white with a glass drink,

bowl for the grain, peg for sepia and seesaw. Just let the live budgie into it. I brought the cage

to my room and waited for my parents to bring me a bird. My mother came to

kindergarten for me, and when we came home and a little green budgie was in

a cage. But don't think it was a cage for my budgie. She still had the door open

and the bird could fly around our apartment as he wanted, I just closed the gate

when the window was open so that the budgie wouldn't fly away. The cage was

in my room for twelve years, then my bird died. I wrapped the cage in papers, tied it with a

string and took it to the cellar, where it is waiting for a new bird. I don't know when it will be,

but one day I'll buy a little budgie again and put it in a cage, which is still like new and is waiting

for a new inhabitant to enjoy it. VŠ

Outside is raining very hard,

I don’t feel like going there, honestly, I’m not a bard, but I don’t even care. What about a photo of my pet, an idea appeared in my head. That’s the art I’m giving you, where my parrot became model, Its one-hundred percent true, only cause excuses are stronger. Now I’m going to the hills, quarantine killed my poem skills, so, I believe this isn’t a crime, see ya next time.

T.T.

I think that the most dangerous cages are in our heads. And by that I mean those boundaries

in our heads that just say what can we do and what we can´t. They always say: You´re too

young, old, mature, stupid or fat or skinny. But we have to live outside those cages. If we will

live inside, in our comfort zones, we will never know what excitement is. What a real fun is. We

have to know people

who will put us out of

this cage even they had

one in their head too.

It´s really important to

me. Cause my best

memories were made

when I was right

outside my comfort

zone.

Nowadays I feel like in

cage in my own room.

Because I´m here way

too much. I feel like a

lion in ZOO. That´s why I find a view from my window calming. AT

PRISONER

Once up on a time there was a huge cage breeding chicken farm. The

cages in which they lived were too small for them they couldn’t even turn

around. Most of them were born in captivity so they didn’t really know

what is outside their cages. But once before the Corona virus epidemic

came one goose forgot to fix their cage gates. That was a big opportunity

for them to run away. They flew through the open window and saw the

nature for the first time in their lives. They had a long way to go to get

as far from this farm as possible. And luckily they made it because every

one was at home in quarantine so they could get to a lovely small

meadow. They thought of how people now fell when they are kept in

cages like them before and many of their friends till today. ŠB

A cage is a very interesting term. It can refer to several different things, which in the end all

mean the same and evoke similar feelings and emotions... Sadness, hopelessness, seclusion,

imprisonment, powerlessness and isolation.

Due to recent events a lot of people think of cages

in less of a literal sense and more in a sense of

being stuck at home, in hospital or in quarantine

without much social contact or enjoyable

activities. It can also be observed in the mindset

of many people who lost their jobs or had to close

down their businesses. They may feel trapped and

powerless, since there is no telling of what will

come in the future and they may be unsure of how

life will treat them after the crisis is over.

For me luckily none of these things apply. I don't go to work and I don't need to spend days

sitting at home, since we live close to nature. I also don't have a lack of social contact, for my

aunt, uncle and cousins live near by. We (the children) often go cycling or into the forest. I

sometimes miss my friends from school though.

The only "cage" I'm "stuck" in that I can think of is a facemask. It just leaves me longing for a

breath of fresh air for the whole time I have it on my face. It is of course mandatory to wear

them and helps protect others from you, so I think it's a reasonable sacrifice to make. JV

Trapped

I'm a Chinese lawyer under Wuhan's lockdown. My name

is Chen Qiushi and ever since the new coronavirus breakout

I've been trying to inform the world about what's going on.

However in my country it's not that easy. Speaking up is a

really brave thing to do because if the government doesn't

like it, they get rid of you. I feel like I'm trapped in a cage

debating whether to live peacefully but hide the truth or

speak up and face the consequences.

It's been a few days since I made a video and uploaded it on

YouTube. In the video I'm saying I'm not scared of the

system and that I won't stop reporting about the truth until

the day I die.

It's Thursday, 6th of February, 10:34 a.m.

I'm currently on my way home from hospital. There is

beautiful nature all around me. The smog has also

disappeared. It's so peaceful. Suddenly I feel something

hard hitting my head. That is the last thing I remember

before I disappeared. AK

Human Cage

Alone in the darkness, searching my way out at night,

Can't reach the end and find the light

I fell on my face

And I appeared in the space

I was in a cage,

and then I find a new human age

It was for all of us huge change

and it looked kind of strange

No one felt a feelings to the others,

except me to my mother

When we found each other,

we ran to our big Father

He was looking through the wall from glass

and then I knew, it was trap on us

We made something horrible,

So God did punishment possible

Others are not on this planet

We are living here forever alone with my mother Janet

DK