What Freedom Means to Me?

Freedom has more than one part to it, but the most important part is the basis. The basis of freedom is freedom within you, to be in control of yourself. Freedom is being able to control what you do, say, and think. The usual path is that you think something, then you say it, and then you do it. Freedom is taking responsibility for everything you do, everything you think, and everything you say. In life, there are always consequences. Freedom is being able to look ahead and choose what you want to do, do it and then accept the consequences. How can we expect others to take responsibility for their actions if we don’t take responsibility for our own actions? Freedom is being able to say "I’m in charge of my own life and I can choose where I am going."

Many people have the misconception that freedom is being able to do anything they want to and that they are not free unless they can do whatever they want. To a certain extent this is true, but what some people do not realize is that making a decision to drink or take drugs or indulge in terrorist acts restricts their freedom. Such activities lead to addiction. The addictions distort the ability to make a judgement. And being addicted takes away your freedom because then the drug or the alcohol or the terrorizing becomes your life.

Freedom is very important. Freedom is what most wars have been fought for. Freedom has been given to my generation, we haven’t had to fight or lose friends and family to gain it. It is a gift that can’t be held in the hand, but is evident all around us. We can choose our occupation; we can choose how we act. Our world is not without its flaws, but we still have our freedom. Peace, particularly, World Peace, is an important issue these days. Coming to think of it (and using a quote made by a fire-fighter working at Ground Zero), Freedom and Peace go hand in hand, one cannot exist without the other !

OT: Visit American casualties in IRAQ.

There have been many stories written about someone not recognizing the value of something until they lose it. Freedom, too, is special and sometimes we don’t realize this until we lose it. Freedom is so precious that fathers have died so that their children can be free. Many mothers have sacrificed for it. I just hope we can see how important it is to treasure it because we do not want to realize its value after we lose it. I firmly believe that good can be done if we choose to make good the "fruits of our labors". I can be in control and make a difference if I just put my mind to it.

P.S.:

I made a conscious decision to use a "free" (or open source) software – OpenOffice – while writing this piece instead of the Microsoft Office suite which I generally use for creating documents. "Free software" is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of "free" as in "free speech", not as in "free beer."

This piece was originally authored by someone else and was adapted to include my views.