Liberty
A child is born free.
Whilst I was child, I was told a story . There was a little shepherd boy, who had only few goats for survival. His family was poor. While his father was dying he handed over an expensive shawl. The shawl was beautiful & protected the shepherd in cold winter. Soon he earned some money, brought some food, belongings & shoes. Shoes that would help him walk the rough terrain, though there were cheap. Whenever his shoes became dirty, he used his expensive shawl to clean them .
Moral : Value is directly proportional to the emotional investment.
A child is born free.
When the child sulks mother’s breast, he cares of no future. No memory of the past. Each day is present.
As the newborn grows old, chains of obligations are fastened. Society expects you to behave a certain way, a stereotype. Frames of gender, caste , religion, ethnicity are built one above the other. Layers of bureaucracy, archaic laws, security protocols & governance snatch away any semblance of freedom, if their remains any.
In the complex mix, in the gated communities, the child forgets who he is. Why was he born. What is his purpose ? The question of purpose is a mighty one.
Lets return to the question of liberty in this post, that is of freedom.
Freedom is lost every day.
Since there was never a realization of what freedom is, we do not realize it what is being taken away from us. Slowly & steadily opaque walls are built around us to make us feel safe. If any these are virtual prisons, we have allowed ourselves to be imprisoned. There’s no coercion. Men pay for security. Cameras record entry. Finger prints open gates. Times are clocked. No strangers are allowed.
A hallowed veneer separates the slums, from the millionaires. One who has more, is the most scared to loose. One who doesn’t, has nothing to fear or at-least it seems so.
A posh suburb & its ugly underbelly. The poor, the wretched should not appear in the vision. They are nowhere to be scorned.
A wall is built.
Governance comes in many forms. States rule subjects. Aging monarch, feudal lord, tyrannical dictator, majoritarian ruler, corrupt representative, ailing democracy, unjust judiciary, atrocious police, an ever abusive society .
Freedom is, freedom from tyranny of the powerful. It is freedom from abuse & exploitation of the mighty. Freedom from forced behavior either through coercion or persuasion. Freedom from opacity of decision making. Freedom from retribution for holding thoughts that aren’t normative.
Liberty is knowing the Truth. Truth sets us free.
photo-credits : #unsplash
In the meantime, tell your friends!