What is freedom?
Time infinite for leisure,
Liberty to scrounge all the treasure.
Joy unabashed of a roamer,
Nada, no-one bound with a loner.
Shackles watermarked on your skin,
Claustral past, for so-called sins.
Free now, to do as you please.
Will you ever cease the peace?
Wild you aren't, 'coz molded you were.
Free you aren't, 'coz held you were.
You feel free but, this they accomplished.
You can't be free, after years of service.
Liberty to scrounge all the treasure.
Joy unabashed of a roamer,
Nada, no-one bound with a loner.
Shackles watermarked on your skin,
Claustral past, for so-called sins.
Free now, to do as you please.
Will you ever cease the peace?
Wild you aren't, 'coz molded you were.
Free you aren't, 'coz held you were.
You feel free but, this they accomplished.
You can't be free, after years of service.
Freedom has a different connotation for everyone.
Browsing through my childhood photographs, I couldn't help but wonder how every thing changes as we are growing up. Your dreams become more & more pragmatic as you realize the limitations of your achievement. Your thoughts become more & more realistic as your responsibilities manifest in front of you...
Freedom has different consequences for everyone.
Remember Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli, the infant lost in a jungle, raised by a pack of wolves. How did freedom transform him? Sequestered from civilization, he became wild, a man-cub, a half-animal with extraordinary combination of hunting skills and cunning.
What would happen if a teenager were to be liberated of all duties & responsibilities? What if all his prior social inhibitions & tendencies were washed away? Such a person would most probably materialize into a good-for-nothing-burden-on-society. It may as well be the other way round. But, that's a very bleak possibility.
So, what is so good about freedom?
When a man has grown out of his elders' and teachers' shadows, he is supposed to be responsible for himself. He is supposed to be free. But, is that really so? The years of social fostering has created in him a sense of accountability. He lives in civilization, following all the rules required for survival & acceptance.
The virtues & vices that he has picked up during the years don't leave him. Neither should they. He knows respect, courtesy, love. He knows betrayal, hate, contempt. He's free to act as he wants. But, what he wants is not governed by who he is. It come from his surroundings & his relations.
So, if freedom can never be absolute, we have to ask ourselves. Is it overrated?
Browsing through my childhood photographs, I couldn't help but wonder how every thing changes as we are growing up. Your dreams become more & more pragmatic as you realize the limitations of your achievement. Your thoughts become more & more realistic as your responsibilities manifest in front of you...
Freedom has different consequences for everyone.
Remember Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli, the infant lost in a jungle, raised by a pack of wolves. How did freedom transform him? Sequestered from civilization, he became wild, a man-cub, a half-animal with extraordinary combination of hunting skills and cunning.
What would happen if a teenager were to be liberated of all duties & responsibilities? What if all his prior social inhibitions & tendencies were washed away? Such a person would most probably materialize into a good-for-nothing-burden-on-society. It may as well be the other way round. But, that's a very bleak possibility.
So, what is so good about freedom?
When a man has grown out of his elders' and teachers' shadows, he is supposed to be responsible for himself. He is supposed to be free. But, is that really so? The years of social fostering has created in him a sense of accountability. He lives in civilization, following all the rules required for survival & acceptance.
The virtues & vices that he has picked up during the years don't leave him. Neither should they. He knows respect, courtesy, love. He knows betrayal, hate, contempt. He's free to act as he wants. But, what he wants is not governed by who he is. It come from his surroundings & his relations.
So, if freedom can never be absolute, we have to ask ourselves. Is it overrated?
what an effort to materialize an intangible phenomenon
ReplyDeletethanx for ur words... :)
ReplyDeletewonderful!! u turned out to be a reeli good writer/poet .. or u always were !! keep up the good work man !! following your posts :)
ReplyDeletethanx! means a lot to me, coming from u...
ReplyDelete