Freedom is
absence of bondage, free of shackles tightly strung around the neck, hands and
ankles. To be free is to breath without fear of persecution, of
ex-communication, or of denunciation. To be free is to live without fear of
death.
Bondage, however,
comes in many types, sizes and forms. To be enslaved is not just what we read
in historical accounts of the slave business, the cruel business of trading
humans based on the color of their skin. Business that forcefully facilitated
the movement and separation of so many souls, enforced changes in cultures,
ending of uncountable lives and worst of all, torture of innocent living
beings. Yes, slavery and bondage of innocent lives is the single most
unforgivable historical account of human history.
Then history
moves forward as it must, yet humans haven’t learned a thing from their actions
of the past. Perhaps even refined their techniques and reasonings for taking
away individuals’ freedom. May it be at a grand scale in terms of genocide or
holding immigrants in a cruel fashion by taking away their children at the
border, or the modern slavery trade known as human trafficking, especially of
children and girls.
Then there
are subtle bondages under the guise of custom, religion, caste, gender,
ethnicity, age and even sexual orientation. Societies and cultures have
seemingly evolved, but that is an illusion.
Evolution,
by definition, is to move forward, develop from simple to more complex, which it
feels like this should mean a higher mind. However, for humans that seems to
have not happened, at least not in the time of recorded history. Forward it has
not moved, but exactly the opposite it seems. Our brains may be getting more
studied, but are minds are shrinking to a size even smaller than that of the
beings of the animal kingdom. At least, those creatures only hunt when
necessary, for food or defense, but humans not only hunt for pleasure, but also
their own kind – another human being to enslave them.
Freedom
takes various forms, comes in many sizes and can change lives, generations,
cultures, countries. America was founded based on freedom and liberty for all.
Oh, how far this great nation has come where so many have made home. The land
of the free, it feels, is no more. Today we are in shackles unseen. We remain
in bondage caused by fear and chaos of today’s climate, caused by greed and
power, caused by the silence of those who refuse to speak up, and caused by the
blindness of those who refuse to see the bigger picture of the greater good.
Everyone in this great nation remains in bondage.
Countries
evolve, world changes, but some things remain the same. However, my concern on
the topic of freedom is beyond the external chains or confinement one person
puts on the other. I delve deeply on the lack of liberties we allow our own
selves and the lines of limits we draw around us. Freedom is a state of mind.
Should an
American black person be afraid to drive for fear of being stopped by a
policeman, should a legal immigrant be afraid to go out alone with limited
language skills of their adopted country, or what about the elderly afraid to
interact with strangers for fear of getting scammed and lose their nest egg?
Fear is the creature that feeds on freedom, and keeps gnawing at it with its
jarred teeth, time and time again. People put restraints on their own selves
and the biggest study is women. They self-inflict servitude with submission to
authority, in the name of religion, culture, social norms, reputation, or
multitude other reasons. They don’t recognize, or opt not to fight, for their
right to choose, think or act on their own accord. If the internal will to be
free is not strong, their motivation not powerful, or even recognition of their
oppression of rights, non-existent, then freedom is not to be had for such
women.
For some
women, marriage is a kind of bondage where they lead their lives under the
oppression of their abusive husbands or in a joint family, their freedom is
limited by the demands and expectations of the elders in the family unit. Girls
and young women are restricted as soon as they are born in many countries and
cultures. Their freedom of movement is limited in the guise of protecting their
honor. Their choices of clothing, or mannerisms controlled lest a finger be
pointed on their character. The social pressures lead to family adding pressure,
resulting in an oppressed girl child who grows up to be afraid, diminutive,
weak because that’s what she had been led to believe all her life. Thus, the
young woman takes away her own freedom to live to her potential, puts her heart
and mind in chains, submits to the authority of the male member in her family
and is forever in servitude to another human being.
Oppression
comes in many shapes, forms and sizes. There are chains we see and those that
exist in our mind. It is the power within to rise above the oppressed to a
limitless sky and become free!
