Freedom - a definition

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!