Find Your Freedom
By
FollowBetter to starve free than be a fat slave.-Aesop
The quote from Aesop, the legendary Greek fables writer, rightly depicts the attitudes of most people today. It is easier to say that, especially in societies and countries which are highly affluence. Each of us yearns for our rights, our freedom to do the things that we want to. We believe that that is the right way and the only way in which we can find true happiness.
The definition of freedom is subjective. One online dictionary in itself has 17 various definitions of ‘freedom’. It encompasses personal, institutional, regional and even national rights to the things that each deserves. Wouldn’t our lives simply be perfect, if we can do the things that we want, and receive fair treatment from people or the system? Unfortunately, this world just does not function this way. Most often, we will find ourselves trap in a situation or a circumstance where we feel uncomfortable, treated unjustly, or forfeited of certain rights that we deserve or worked hard for.
So if that is the case, does that mean that freedom is an illusion that we will never be able to have? And worse still, what if all we have in life is what we have now and there is nothing left to work for in the next phase of it?
True freedom can be found in looking beyond the circumstance we are in, to find happiness and contentment whatever it may be. The difference between us human beings and animals, is that we have the power and choice to determine what we want to make out of life. That in itself, is a freedom that we’d possess. It is the exercising of that freedom that is difficult.
There is always a cost to freedom. The funny thing is freedom does not come free. The cost for freedom usually has a high debt attached and always with the shedding of blood. Just ask any soldier returning from war.
Freedom can be a high price to pay. We find freedom when we can willingly lay down our lives for others, regard them as better than us, love whether or not it will be returned, and all for the greater good. Freedom isn’t about us as individuals, it’s about giving up the right to yourself. Even giving up the right to your own life, if necessary.
Through the rough struggles to choose freedom, to choose to be happy in whatever circumstances we land in life, we will be able to find true freedom.
Once we are able to do this, we will no longer be fearful of our circumstances. Instead, we will be the master of it and have the power to control how we react to each situation.
