Freedom, what does it mean?

Freedom is a reality that has had its definition changed over the last century.  The new version of freedom that the world has accepted is contrary to the true freedom that people used to know; this new “freedom” is actually an enslaving lie.  Many people fall into this trap, me included.  However, true freedom is something that people are willing to die for.

 Webster’s New Dictionary (1914) defined freedom as, “Charity, Being exempt from slavery, giving of one’s self.”  If you compare it to the Dictionary of today, it says, “The condition of being free from restraints, lack of reserve.”(The Student Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin, 2001)  The difference is subtle, but present nonetheless; that difference is the lack of the reference to charity and giving in the new definition.  One hundred years ago, if one was charitable, one was free.  Now freedom is seen the ability to choose what, when, and who to do.  The true freedom that people have isn’t solely to choose, because many choices lead into slavery, maybe not slavery to a person or government, but a slavery to personal passions and the desires of others.  In the modern world of today, freedom is falsely represented as the ability to do what I want, when I want.

Many people, from all over the world, have been willing to die for the sake of true freedom.  The people of America who fought in the American Revolution knew that freedom is not being subject to totalitarian ideals.  These ideals not only caused the leaders in England to take all the defenseless citezens’ money and lifestyles, but they also suppressed their ability to live in a charitable way.  Those that were determined to keep their true freedom, to continue working for the good, stood up for their rights by taking up arms.  They were determined to stand up for others as well as their own rights; they were the ones that were free.  The founding fathers in our country thought freedom was self-evident as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Nearly everyone has seen Braveheart, and knows the main character, William Wallace.  From the time he was a small boy, he was fighting a war for freedom from England, and he became a martyr for that cause.  He died in the same state of peasantry he was born into, but he was truly free.  England may have ruled his land, but they never ruled over his heart.  Even on the torture rack while being disemboweled, he was free.  He could have given in, could have ended the pain in a quick death, but that would be forfeit to his freedom he had throughout life.  He was free, even though he was tied to a table, dying.  He made sure that everyone knew he was free with one resounding yell, “Freedom!”  In his death he showed many people, then and now, what a free man really is.

Nearly every person’s goal in life is to attain true happiness.  The way to such happiness is to practice freedom.  Not the “freedom” of today, that is, the right to choose.  By practicing the “freedom” of today, many find themselves trapped in further bonds: unwanted pregnancies, addictions to drugs/alcohol/sex, depression, poverty, war/violence, and slavery, all components of our new “freedom”.

  I have had my own struggles discovering what today’s freedom does.  I became addicted to lustful thinking, pornography, lying, masturbation, and many other things.  I was no longer free; I literally felt chains all around me.  I became angry, deceitful and mean.  But then, I began to realize that the chains weren’t there by anyone’s choices than mine.  I then faced the long hard struggle to freedom.  Now, in the year 2004, I may not be not financially stable, I nor able to do whatever I want, I don’t even have a good computer, but I am free.  I am happy because I can and do choose the good.

 If everyone would discover the freedom I have found; people wouldn’t worry about social status, or physical appearance, or even intelligence, world hunger would be solved because people wouldn’t be stingy with their precious food.  It is commonly said that there is enough food on this earth now to feed the entire human race for over a hundred years.  If people would practice true freedom, which is to serve rather than being served, communities throughout the world would have their needs met freely, without the need for arguments or fights.

Freedom is not something you can just look up in a textbook and know.  It is something your heart already knows, you just have to find it. This freedom is a tangible essence inside everyone, the ability to choose the good.  Freedom is the ability to choose the good, the ability to help others, the ability to live as a community.  This is the freedom our country once stood for, and it is what many people in today’s society lack.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

 •    •    •    •    •    •    •