1789 Tennis court oath Listen, Look and Lead: Echoing of the nation’s voice The third estate people are scapegoats of the country. I was grown up as an orphan, suffered, and still suffering from extreme poverty. When my parents were alive, they owned pretty large area of the farm. My dad was a businessman. He really worked hard and diligently not for himself, but for the family. The day my parents passed away, our land was taken and had a tiny bit of the farm left. From that day on, I had to work as a peasant, more like a SLAVE. I serve in the nobleman’s house all day, all night in order to keep my parent’s last present for me which is the farm. Through all that predicaments, my sister, Amelia was always at the back, supporting me. She is my beacon, the reason why I am muddling through the bitters of life. Amelia has a disease. Everyday, she screams in pain. It is so heartbreaking to hear it and there’s nothing I can do. I have no idea if she can recuperate or not. Even if she can, I got no money for her cure. I am trying my best to at least not let her die of starvation. We absolutely have no privileges. Third estate exist to help he first and second estate to live with luxury. Without taille* and gabelle* we pay, Madam Déficit and Louis XVI would starve to death! Without tithes* we pay to the churches, clergy would be in adversities. Yet, they don't know how important we are in the French society! We work for them, we sacrifice for them in war, and we pay three quarters of our yearly income. We don't deserve to be mistreated from them. Just yesterday, I lost everything. The country took away our farm! What have we done to be treated in this way? I wanted to shout right at their face and fight for our land. But I’m just a powerless third estate peasant, I can’t do anything. I can’t stop imagining the dark future of France and us. I believed that some day, there will be a change in this nation but now, I really don't think France would change by itself. We have to be the ones who make a change. 1789, June 20th, at Jeu de Paume*, the Estates-general met in the tennis court for political and social reforms. Yes, this is what I was looking for the whole time! An opportunity to force a new constitution on the king and show the demons inside our heart. In the tennis court, I stood up, and swore an oath that I would not move until “The voice of nation is heard!”. One by one, they followed me and at last even the nobles and clergy shouted with us. Our demands were finally met. The vote always been taken by class. Our votes don't even matter! We argued that voting should be done by poll, not by order since we have more representatives than the two estates combined. We want the Estates general to meet as one body. I told Amelia about what happened in the tennis court like an excited kid. When she heard the story, she showed tears of happiness. It’s been a week since the Tennis court oath but I still can’t forget that day. The moment I shouted for our rights, I went through catharsis. It was the first time in my life that I have been so eager to achieve something I wanted for years.
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