One very interesting thing that I really liked doing is talking with friends, colleagues and those people who have higher intellectual minds than me in an informal way of chit-chats. We discuss important matters affecting our society and treat them just like sharing stories as old buddies would do (I always do the ‘listening’ part). But here’s the twist: There are certain questions thrown to you that would leave you wordless. You know what to say, but you don’t know how to utter them out. Your words and ideas become prisoners in your own cellar of minds. And the only way to relieve that stress is to write them down. Same thing I am doing right now.
“What is freedom?” and so the question goes, “Where does it really begin?” With all my effort to try and answer the question briefly yet completely, I was dumbfounded. Suddenly, I found myself in a trance where the world stopped spinning. Really, what do I know about FREEDOM? How do I know for sure, that what I am saying what Freedom is, is the right freedom I am referring to? Like sparks of stars throughout the dark endless sky, questions upon questions come flashing in through my frozen mind.
Every single soul wants freedom. That thing I knew for a long time ago. Free from distress; free from problems; free from oppressions; free from conflicts; free from all those things we consider loathsome; free to be whom we want to be. To be free to do what we want to do. To be free and fight for what we believe is right.
But then to what extent will this go? What is the worth of being freed, when in turn we make others locked up? What is the worth of having too much information when it only leads to more confusions than clarities? What is the essence of being freed from oppressions, when we step on others rights in the long run? What is the goodness in winning on your own while the rest crawls on, losing? What is the worth of being better and better, if we only end up losing the Trust people have placed upon us? What is the use of being a leader, when people see you more as a foe than a friend?
We are only oppressed when we let ourselves to be oppressed; when we treat ourselves as being oppressed; when we keep on telling ourselves that we are really being oppressed. And we are free when we let ourselves to be free. When we treat, feel and tell ourselves that indeed we are free; without other people’s intervention.
We are oppressed when we allow ourselves to be oppressed.
And we are free, when we allow ourselves to be free.
With a snap I came back to where I was in reality: standing on that hall, trying to remember and reorganize my mind for my answer to the question. To help me out in my predicament, they repeated the question:
“What is true freedom for you, and where do you think it all begins?”
“True Freedom is you.” I was surprised by my own answer; so sudden; so profound that even I do not know where it came from, “And real freedom begins within”.
I saw a light smile of conformity among their faces, indicating that I did passed the exam.
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