Born With Freedom

Freedom is a concept many in Western society are familiar with. Put into to definition restraints, "freedom" can be described as "living outside of slavery." Ghandi described freedom as an inner peace. Then there are others - the many people in the world that view freedom as a protective force: a positive idea that provides happiness and stability.

In Western society, freedom is something you're born with. There is no question; it's an inalienable right. God-given. Handed on a platter for even the most demented, sick, and twisted people to abuse. We don't question its existence because we witness this freedom everyday (though it's not noticed).

We can openly criticize our government and our leaders. We can decide whether we should go to work or stay at home. We decide what work to go to. We decide what mate we wish to wed. We decide what we define ourselves as being. We simply ARE.

This, as strange as it may seem, is a very alien idea in some parts of the world. Russia and China, for example, require news agencies to belong to the government for the express sole reason of censoring its media (pretty handy, if you ask me, and probably why Putin's approval rating is so high). In some parts of the world, women are still second-class citizens with no recognized rights to, well...anything. Some parts of the world seem almost completely abandoned to the entire concept of "freedom."

Iraq and Afgahnistan are two place where this was true. The ideas of "freedom" and "liberty" are no doubt unfamiliar concepts to these peoples, and a certain amount of cultural adjustment is in transition. Many are opposed to this adjustment because many fear what they do not understand. Fear can also keep a mind closed, and closed minds are very difficult to persuade.

Then there are other problems - different sub-groups vying for power all over the place. Those few that have a desire to rule with "an iron fist" are just as steadfast in their determination to keep the established norm of obedience and submission on the mass population. These few have even gained support from those that wish for the illusion of security. The many that seek freedom are, by now, assuredly, fearful to speak against such groups.

It looks simple from the other side of the world. The thought is "if they would just stop fighting, we could pull our troops out." Naive as it may be, it is an easy concept for our instant coffee minds to warm up to, and the problem then turns to impatience and frustration when the scene doesn't become the paradise that we think it should be.

It's depressing. It's disheartening. It's loathesome. The bloodshed and the violence from those people that need this freedom (but don't understand its limitless boundaries) is ultimately coming under the bigger spotlight. The idea of freedom is vanishing to be replaced with the illusion of security. There is no such thing as "stable" and "secure." The US is supposed to be both of these, and yet people die of senseless violence in this country every day.

We should allow the idea of freedom to blossom within this culture's youngest minds. The children, ultimately, are going to be the deciding factors in this struggle. For within their naive minds, the idea of freedom can be planted, and as they grow, not knowing any other way to be, freedom flourishes for them.

As I look for the end of this struggle, I feel that it will be passed on to my children's generation. Not because some president started a war with intent on stealing oil reserves (rediculous); but because of default - it's going to take that long to raise a generation into modern civility. Our children will become the ultimate decision makers in this conflict, because the world that we give birth to now is for them.

We do not fight an army. We fight no government. We fight no country. It's fascism that we fight. It's intolerance that we fight. And it's freedom that we hold dear to our hearts, and we wish to impress that on people across the globe.

If that is wrong, then I will be wrong.