Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death

– Patrick Henry

In my childhood, once I asked my mother to buy me a parrot. I was fascinated by the talking-parrot of my neighbour. My mother said that parrot will never be happy to be caged. It will certainly get better food, better shelter, protection from predators and love from human. But it will still be unhappy because it will lose its freedom. If it wants to fly, it won’t be able to do so. If it wants to meet other parrots it can’t. So locking an animal is not a good idea. Well, I was not convinced. I thought she has a fancy story to deny me what I was asking for.

But twenty years hence, I can understand my mother’s perspective. Without much knowledge about world affairs and the theory of ‘freedom’, she relied on her common sense and culture. Freedom is something that is birth right of every person. Freedom is a very intriguing concept. We can never have absolute freedom. But freedom with justification and mutual respect are what we all need. We can force another human to do things that he/she does not like. We can wage a war and subjugate the enemy. We can kill and wipe out civilizations to assert our power. But can we buy the sprit of a human? Never. Spirit can’t be caged and can’t be conquered. Spirit is free and will remain so.

History is the best teacher. Turning the pages of human past is the best illustration of the value of freedom. Mighty empire of Britain is nowhere to be seen now. And that empire is never remembered with respect either. British Empire is a hated figure because of its attitude to rule by force. That mighty empire is now confined to a small country off the coast of Europe. Great fighters such as Alexander are not viewed with respect. They can be great in their country, they can be great military commanders but they are not great human beings. Who commands more respect than Mother Teresa? A frail woman conquered the world with her love and affection. Another great example might be Buddha, who ran away from his palace, wandered in Ganges plain and preached us Buddhism. People who win over the heart and mind of others are respected over centuries and millennium. And these are the people who preach the spirit of freedom. By granting freedom they spread the principle of love and friendship. But those who cut short the freedom could not hold on to their machiavellian plan for long. They dot the history as evil and serve as examples of what should not repeat.

I’ve come across and interacted with people from various countries. Level of freedom varies from country to country and society to society. It has always been my experience that people from countries where there is no freedom for speech tends to be much less happy. They might enjoy economic success and luxury of life. But as the parrot story goes, material pleasure can’t be a viable alternative for real freedom.

In India, We already have a certain degree of freedom. But we need to couple the freedom of expression with freedom from hunger. Real freedom is not possible until we wipe out poverty. As long as there is hunger there will be repression and exploitation. When 40% of Indians go to bed hungry, it is a huge social problem. Poverty is due to lack of opportunity and we all should work hard to eradicate the inequality and help others achieve their freedom.