All quotes used are excerpts from Kayla's blog and excerpts from the letter sent to her loved ones while in captivity.
“I have been shown in darkness, light and have learned that even in prison, one can be free.”
“I have come to see that there is good in every situation, sometimes we just have to look for it.”
“Here we are. Free to speak out without fear of being killed, blessed to be protected by the same law we are subjected to, free to see our families as we please, free to cross borders and free to disagree. We have many people to thank for these freedoms and I see it as an injustice not to use them to their fullest. ”
“The gardener knows how to turn garbage into compost. Therefore our anger, sadness, and fear is the best compost for our compassion. ”
“Freedom is completely up to us, up to our minds. Freedom really could be in a prison cell, in a university classroom, in an Amazonian rain forest, in a monastery or in a country far, far away from your own. It all depends on you and your ability to free yourself from your thinking. ”
“I only see hope in the masses. I only see revolution in the complacent ceasing to be ignorant and blissful. I believe in a collective consciousness. ”
“I believe that if we can’t handle learning about the darkest places of our world, they will turn into the darkest places in us. If we know or we don’t, if we do something or we don’t, either way it will affect us. ”
“Ask me questions and ask yourself questions but most importantly, question the answers. ”
“This really is my life’s work, to go where there is suffering. I suppose, like us all, I’m learning how to deal with the suffering of the world inside myself... to deal with my own pain and most importantly to still have the ability to be proactive.”
“I’ve learned that selflessness is a practice, not a place; a journey much more than a destination. ”
“You wouldn’t take a sledgehammer to the walls of your home; why do we consciously destroy the Earth? ”