Is Freedom What We Think it is?
@sagescrub has asked the question, what does freedom mean to you? and challenged us to answer it. Oddly enough this is something that has been on my own mind of late, so now I have the chance to put my thoughts into words.
At one point the idea of freedom would have been a simple as running free across a meadow, but now I feel it's a bit more complex than that.
For me freedom is the ability to choose how you live without interference from others, but also without interfering with others freedoms. So freedom does not mean that I get to demand whatever I want from others, while they have to put aside their freedoms to provide for my whims.
Freedom is the ability to choose whether you want to live in a society and obey the rules of that society in return for any benefits that might be offered, or to choose to opt out of that society knowing that you don't have to follow the rules, but you also waive the benefits.
Freedom is the ability to travel without restriction, as long as you cause no harm where you go. It is the ability to do what you wish, as long as it doesn't infringe on anyone else's freedom to do what they wish and as long you are prepared to deal with the consequences of your choices.
Freedom is not a free pass to do what you want, but rather the responsibility to make your own decisions. Freedom is having the ability to self govern, but also the ability to let others govern you if you so choose.
The truth is, many people choose a society, because it makes them feel safe and when someone wants to opt out of that, they will resist it. Whether out of fear that people opting out will break the system or out of jealousy because they see that those opting out don't have to follow the rules, also realising that they don't want to give up the benefits themselves to be able to opt out. Or maybe even because they can't comprehend why someone would want to opt out. Unfortunately this attitude infringes upon the freedoms of those few who do want to opt out. However, while those trying to opt out fight for their freedoms, they also need to remember that they mustn’t infringe upon the freedoms of others to choose the system if they wish. They too will have to deal with any consequences of their own choices if things don't work out how they hoped.
Thank you @minismallholding for participating in #freedomchallenge!
I see a lot of value for compassion in your words. The choice to do no harm to others as a result of your actions is a choice to be compassionate towards others. I really appreciate the piece about being able to opt in or out as a metric of whether one is free or not.
Thank you. The challenge helped get me some focus on pondering just the one part of freedom rather than hopping all over the place.
I think some people mistake freedom for a freeride which is where we see the lack of awareness surrounding consequences. Your thought process is well articulated and balanced. -Aimee
I think many people, particularly of a certain generation, make that mistake. That's why I've always tried to teach my daughters to make choices and realise consequences. I still sometime feel that I probably spoilt them a bit growing up, because they still expect a lot for little, but they're better than most.
Yes, the degree of entitlement certainly does seem to correlate with the generation. You sound like you're doing an excellent job with your daughters. Don't forget, their outside influences may have a lot to do with their expectations as well. ;)
-Aimee
True!
This gem of a post was discovered by the OCD Team!
Reply to this comment if you accept, and are willing to let us share your gem of a post! By accepting this, you have a chance to receive extra rewards and one of your photos in this article may be used in our compilation post!
You can follow @ocd – learn more about the project and see other Gems! We strive for transparency.
If you would like your posts to be resteemed by @ocd and reach a bigger audience, use the tag #ocd-resteem, it doesn´t have to be the first one. Every day, three posts using this tag will be chosen by our curators to be RS. Good Luck.
Thank you, I accept and would be happy for you to share.
There is really so much to say about freedom. It seems to be a shallow subject yet thinking through it, it is just so deep and a very extensive subject since it covers every aspect of human life.
Great writing!
Agreed. It's hard to put a single definition on it. It can be so open to interpretation.
I like the idea of doing as you please as long as it harms no one. Sadly I think a lot of people get the first part but overlook the second. Your post really made me contemplate the concept of freedom and what it means to me. Thank you.
Yes, I believe therein lies the problem. The attitude that "I'm free, I can do what I want and don't have to lift a finger if I don't want to".
Great read! Freedom is my favorite idea. When I think freedom, I think of choices. Not just choices to run away but choices to engage. Freedom to walk away but also freedom to enslave ourselves. It is very tricky to imagine what true freedom is. I am pretty sure that where ever someone lives they have laws restricting something, so you are free to still do it, but you will get into trouble.
It's a strange word really isn't it? It can allow you to choose the opposite of what it means. That saying: "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink" gives an idea of the true might of our freedom. You can have a gun pointed at your head, but you still have the ability to make a choice. They might not be desirable choices, but they are there and no one can take that from you.