The Truth of Freedom
Do you know why it is so difficult to define freedom?
For some, freedom means the right to live however they want and do whatever they wish regardless of how their actions may affect others. Others believe freedom is a feeling where everyone lives in harmony, doesn’t mind others’ businesses, and tries their best to respect each other’s lifestyles and choices. Few believe that the majority of a democratic country determines the freedom and the rule of what most people decide becomes the law of the land. Finally, I believe freedom should be a right to everyone and their choices regardless of what they may be. Still, everyone must also be responsible for ensuring everyone’s freedom remains free.
India is a country that is technically free, and yet we suffer from the decisions of the people who enforce our freedom. Living in times of turmoil has tested our precious freedom a lot. We have lost the right to eat what we want in private to appease the religious belief of the majority. We have lost the right to display our love if we are to keep our heads from the illiterate masses who are so sexually repressed that they would deny its existence while living in perversion in impunity. We have lost our right to express our distaste against government policy if we are to save ourselves from the brand of being ‘Anti-national’ by people who are supposed to cherish our freedom. If we can’t freely criticize each other, what good is our freedom of expression? Why must we bite our tongues to appease the people who can’t even take simple jokes?
Do you feel free in India today? You would be either inadvertently stupid or the chosen one we’ve all been waiting for if your answer to my previous question isn’t no. Our country today is a historical place where our decisions will define our democracy and our strength as a truly free nation in the next few years. There’s a long way to go before we can attain true freedom, but what we must immediately decide is the type of freedom we want to live in today.
Our constitutional freedom is being challenged today. The need of the hour is to rectify what’s bubbling amongst the masses and understand what we truly need to restore freedom in our nation. Instead of tossing each other’s ideas aside, we must lean into every opinion to find the truths we all want to agree upon. We must moderate ourselves to make sure intolerance does not win! We must cut out the intolerant materials from our system and create a place where nobody ever feels unheard.
We have such tools and connections today that educating others on our rights and thoughts should not be a problem. Instead of having a cancel culture, we should have an acceptance culture and do our all to integrate even the ones who refuse to budge. We need people of all thought points and from all walks of life to create a truly free and vibrant society.
I do not feel free or have the correct definition of freedom. But I know that together we can find the truth of freedom.
