Freedom must be the most misunderstood and abused term in the dictionary. If I am to believe popular opinion, evey man (and woman of course) wants freedom. And on the surface that makes a lot of sense. "Of course you want freedom", you bark like the little Pavlov dog you are. It is out before you even thought about it. But just this once, take a minute to think about it with me please.
The condition of being free of restraints, that is freedom according to the dictionary. Sounds good doesn't it. And if you live in a prosperous country, chances are you could be reltively free as we speak. right this very moment you could walk away from the screen that you are looking at reading my blog and do practically everything you could possibly imagine. The queer thing is, you don't. You'll read this, eat some dinner, watch TV, play a video game, go to bed and go to school or your job. The mere thought of putting on your coat and walking out that door, renting a Porsche and drive 200 miles per hour on the freeway like you always wanted scares the shit out of you.
"I'll get a fine!"
"You can pay it, or maybe you just won't"
"But I'll be arrested!"
"So? You get one phonecall. Call your wife or parents and tell them you'll be a little later then"
You see, we do not want freedom. We are scared to death of it. We dread the day we no longer have to work all day and wake up having to think what to do next. The 2 weeks holliday in Mexico are nice, but after that you'll be glad to go back to the office where your whole day is arranged for you from 9 to 5. So you work for 40 hours, buy a hous and a car (maybe two) and of course have some children. Then the barbeques with the neighbours start, the endless days in the themeparks, the Christmas dinners with your mother in law and all those other things you always dreamed about when growing up. Or didn't you?
No, of course you didn't. But the moment you realised the alternative is taking responsibility for your life, making choices and taking chances, the choice was very easy. And freedom was but a small price to pay for releaving you of the burden of responsibility. So we sorta redefined freedom. It no longer refers to the condition of being free of restraints. It refers to the condition of being free of responsibility, the price of wich is lifelong restraint.
