Last night I was having a sleepover at my cousin's house --it felt like I was thirteen years old again and we were each under our covers in the dark talking until we fell asleep. And as I talked about my life and everything I love about it right now, I realized that what really feels amazing for me lately is being absolutely free. Free to come and go as I please without having to justify myself to anyone. Free to only do things I want to do and not have to take anyone into consideration. Free to leave a party early or to get wasted, to kiss anyone I want or kick someone out of my bed. Free to put myself first.
I feel lucky, I've got an easy definition of freedom: I felt burdened by a sense of responsibility I didn't want and now that I'm free from it I have never been happier.
But it's not always that simple. To be free doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. For a fourteen year-old girl who wants to be out later than midnight, to be free means to have no curfew. A 27 year-old guy who has been in a relationship for three years and feels suffocated by commitment, just wants to feel free to have one-night-stands. My friend Gay wants to tell everyone he likes boys and be able to kiss his boyfriend without inhibition. My parents wanted the freedom to love each other even though they were from different religions. And for my friend Brave who is handicapped from head to toe and hasn't walked in over ten years, it means to be free of his body.
For the Tunisians, the Egyptians, the Libyans and the Syrians it means to be free of dictatorship. For Casey Anthony to be free is to get rid of her two-year old kid. For Amy Winehouse it's to be free from addiction. For that psycho from Norway to be free is to kill 76 people to prove a point. For Zeid Hamdan to be free is to write a song without getting arrested for it.
No it's not that simple. Because to be free from dictatorship, countless people have died and you've still got the same man playing God over the masses. Casey is free and Amy is dead. The psycho from Norway has people using their freedom of speech to blame his actions on Islamic Extremism. And as a friend said and I quote "Zeid's free. What about expression?"
Freedom feels so great it's obvious why we all fight for it --and why the fight is as old as the world.
Makes you understand why Adam ate that apple.
I feel lucky, I've got an easy definition of freedom: I felt burdened by a sense of responsibility I didn't want and now that I'm free from it I have never been happier.
But it's not always that simple. To be free doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. For a fourteen year-old girl who wants to be out later than midnight, to be free means to have no curfew. A 27 year-old guy who has been in a relationship for three years and feels suffocated by commitment, just wants to feel free to have one-night-stands. My friend Gay wants to tell everyone he likes boys and be able to kiss his boyfriend without inhibition. My parents wanted the freedom to love each other even though they were from different religions. And for my friend Brave who is handicapped from head to toe and hasn't walked in over ten years, it means to be free of his body.
For the Tunisians, the Egyptians, the Libyans and the Syrians it means to be free of dictatorship. For Casey Anthony to be free is to get rid of her two-year old kid. For Amy Winehouse it's to be free from addiction. For that psycho from Norway to be free is to kill 76 people to prove a point. For Zeid Hamdan to be free is to write a song without getting arrested for it.
No it's not that simple. Because to be free from dictatorship, countless people have died and you've still got the same man playing God over the masses. Casey is free and Amy is dead. The psycho from Norway has people using their freedom of speech to blame his actions on Islamic Extremism. And as a friend said and I quote "Zeid's free. What about expression?"
Freedom feels so great it's obvious why we all fight for it --and why the fight is as old as the world.
Makes you understand why Adam ate that apple.
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