“The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage” Thucydides.
It is no secret that things are different now in Egypt, and that for better or worse life will never be the same.
One of the biggest and strongest ideals that have surfaced as a result is that of freedom. A concept that was once alien to many people is now right at their fingertips ready to be claimed. Realizing the possibilities had us dancing in the streets. All of this is great, but we all know that theory is so much easier than practice. Freedom needs balance, and therein is the problem. How does one find that balance?
Freedom cannot exist alone; it needs courage and responsibility, because a free person is held accountable for their actions and choices. There is no “other” that you can blame the consequences of your actions on.
With freedom there has to be true tolerance, acceptance and understanding, as well as knowledge and constant willingness to learn fro both yourself and others, because freedom, just like the nae indicates, is a moving target; the rules of today, might not apply tomorrow, and one has to be flexible enough to be able to stay in the game.
One also needs to understand that a free person is a self-starter. There is no one out there to steer you that would just defeat the purpose now would it not?Initiative has to come from within. You have to be willing to look yourself in the eye and call yourself out when you do something inappropriate no matter how big or small, no matter what the consequences are. You see, freedom overcomes fear of exposure. Because freedom realizes that no one is infallible, and that everyone deserves the chance to prove him or herself and live their lives in the best of their abilities. Freedom is not for granted but a privilege and should be appreciated and handled properly; just look at the price we have had to collectively pay so far.
When balanced, it becomes easy to realize that freedom grows with sharing; it is a two-way street. In order for you to have freedom, you have to be willing to give it as well. Freedom is not yours alone. It is for everybody and everything. Even what you do not believe in or agree with. Once you have opened the door to freedom you cannot ration it.
But freedom is not just in actions, but also, perhaps more importantly, in thought and will. For a person to be truly free they have to unshackle their mind and allow it room to think, question and analyze. A free mind does not take anything for granted, it does not follow dogma, and it certainly is not afraid to think the opposite of what is mainstream. Of course a free mind does not just go against the grain because it can do so, but because its thought process took it in that particular direction. There is a fundamental difference between being different for the sake of sensationalism and showing the world that you can throw caution to the wind and be “free” in the sugar-coated sense, and being a true free thinker capable of critical analysis and following the evidence where it takes you, no matter where that is. As for the free will, it bolsters the free mind, not only to turn its thoughts into actual actions, but also, and more critically, helps it stay the course, and continue believing. This is perhaps where courage is needed the most: in the backing up of your actions once they are said and done, and you realize that you are not very popular because of them, just as you realize that your logic is sound and you have the right, and now, the freedom to your opinions.
Just like everything else there is a negative side, and the underside of freedom is that because it belongs to everyone there will be abusers. I can think of a bunch of incidents that either happened to be personally, or in front of me in the past month that show how freedom can be very easily abused, the smallest of which being a random guy with a key chain marking the whole right side of my car while I was slowing down to make a right turn while he was jaywalking. Now we all know that vindictive car vandalism is nothing new, but the new thing is wrecking your car while you watch, because the vandal feels emancipated and is no longer afraid of the consequences. Some might say that this is an expected manifestation of the inevitable, but supposedly temporary unrest that follows any nation-wide uprising. I say abuse of a privilege is abuse of a privilege no matter what the situation is or the circumstances are.
On a larger, and maybe more political level –that can just as easily be applied on smaller social levels of course, we find certain people or parties saying things like, yes we have freedom now, but we cannot give such and such room on our table to talk, knowing what we know about them, it is for the good of the people. Excuse me but that is just xenophobia. Xenophobia, or fear of the other, and freedom, just do not mix. We need to realize that just as freedom is the cradle for empowered minds and spirits, it is also the graveyard for mediocre ideologies, and oppressive mentalities. Giving voice to everyone and meeting that with free and enlightened logic will automatically separate the good from the bad, allowing the good to flourish and the bad to fizzle out. That is what freedom does. Freedom to a society is what free market is to an economy, it allows all elements to duke it out in front of everyone, and ultimately gives balance to the environment once the dust has settled; only to start all over again, giving everybody a constant sense of invigoration. Now if that is not good for everybody concerned I do not know what is. Think about it, the only people who would not want this kind of freedom are the ones who would want a monopoly, are afraid of the true will of the people, or just want to lead “their way” according to what they see is right, and their kind of “right” is the “rightest” kind of right.
In the end, freedom is a gift and it is what you make of it; it can liberate you body, mind and soul, or it can drown you. We now know the way, just look at what we did in eighteen days, and how we regained world respect. The rest is up to us.
