B6: The day when we shall be free

 

“Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else” – Epictetus.

The day when we shall be free…

Even today, when we are celebrating Independence Day in our respective countries, do we really feel independent or free? We are human beings who are co-dependent on each other, which raises the question “Are we free?” Because today, tomorrow, right now, and every now and then we will always have someone controlling us, ordering us, commanding us, judging us. Laying borders and restrictions on every action we make. Every other minute we live, every other movement we make is to be done according to someone else’s listed morals and rules.

Stereotypes, prejudices, narrow thinking, etc. will always hold prominent decision-making power in our lives. The fight for discrimination, equality, equity, and power will always continue till mankind lives. But shouldn’t we free ourselves from those? For a better life! I will discuss a few such barriers keeping us away from freedom, if I miss something do add it in the comment box.

Being a female is a beautiful and wonderful gift. A person with the power to carry a life in it, to give birth, to nurture and deliver a new life, a new person. A woman is just defined on the basis of giving birth, she has value because she brings a life in this world. And she has to fight for her respect. A woman is a human brought into the world just like a man. She deserves respect, rights, freedom of decision-making, freedom to earn, freedom to choose her attire, and freedom to walk, talk, dance, and do everything that she wants. Imagine coming into life, having the ability to listen, to see, to understand but not to speak because you are a girl. Imagine not having a favorite dish and denying eating it and hearing, “What will you do if your husband like it? Eat everything, like everything, or else what will your in-laws tell about our parenting?”. Imagine living in the house of your parents and hearing, “This is not your house, your husband’s house will be your house. Do whatever you want to there?” and then hear this from your husband, “This is my house, go to your parent’s house if you can’t abide by my rules!”. Imagine living your whole life to be dolled up just to be someone’s wife and then a maid! Gender equality is a myth. We all are human beings born with different organs, different hormones, and different souls, and because of this, there will always be a difference. Think when a woman employee delivers a child she gets a maternity leave but then what about the father? Isn’t it his duty as well to look after the newborn? There will always be differences in such scenarios. So when a woman speaks about equality she speaks about getting rid of the respect she is denied, the opportunities taken, the questions raised, the rules applied to her, the stereotypes labeled on her, the dignity-purity-honor she is expected to have, the control over her, the neglect of her health, the disapproval of her opinions and the taking away of all her basic rights. Hence we shall all be free when women are free!

Opportunity is something that should be given to everyone, irrespective of gender, caste, religion, race, and of course the relation of the candidate with the person in power. Human society shall prevail only if we all prevail. Intelligence, skills, and knowledge doesn’t discriminate then who are we to? We all have the right to develop ourselves and the right to opportunities. How much more time will it take for us to get a job easily where the person applying is not judged for what religion he/she belongs to, for the skin color he/she has, for the gender she/he has, for the relatives she/he has? I would like to have a seat in a school/college for which I have scored and not be rejected for the caste/region I belong to, I want a job on my qualifications and experiences and not being rejected for the body parts I have and the relatives I don’t. Hence, we shall be free when we all are offered opportunities irrespective of religion, caste, race, gender, and relations!

CREDITS: ipopba - stock.adobe.com

Even while I am writing I feel I might hurt someone’s belief, principle, etc. I might go politically wrong and hurt someone with the words I use. I might offend them and then shall have to face their rage. People have become more verbal along with becoming more intolerant. As much as they like to speak, they comparatively like to hear less. When any person makes a statement he should be careful of not offending or insulting anyone. It is scary to be not able to express without having the fear of hurting someone. We cannot hear someone without getting offended. Hence we should be open-minded and tolerant. We should speak and use our freedom of speech to the extent of not harming the peace but then what is it that will not offend anyone. We should listen to everyone and ignore anything that is negative and be tolerant towards each other but then when to raise our voice and what to raise our voice against. We shall be free only when we can speak our hearts out without being afraid!

We were given birth by our parents and then had a body and a soul of our own. Still while making any decision for ourselves why do we think about what others will tell? Why do we care about people for the life we are living? If I have to choose a career, a stream, or a subject, why are we asked to think about what people will say? When you are to choose a life partner either during love or arrange marriage, why are we asked to think about what people will say? Why are we always asked to think what those people will say whom we don’t even know? Those 4 people (chaar log) we are always reminded of, who are they? Did they give us this life? Did they ever take care of our upbringing? Did they ever ask me about their life decisions? Then why am I asked to think about them? We will be free only when we are free to make our own decisions without being asked to think about society!

Our lives have become a reality show we didn’t sign up for. We are constantly judged, graded, and marked up for every action we make. I am being judged for the skin color I have, for the religion I follow, for the gender I belong to, for the course I took, for the dress I wear, for the people I talk to, for the time I leave and come back home to, for words I speak, for the breath I take! Be a man, a woman, an LGBTQA+ person, a kid, a teenager, a middle-aged person, an old person, skinny or chubby, fair or dusky, tall or short, introvert or extrovert, rich or poor, married or single or widow or divorcee, employed or unemployed, victim or suspect or criminal, dead or alive, you will be judged. And by whom, I ask? By the person sitting next to me or the person looking at me across the room, or my relative whom I never meet accept a family function, well even they are judged, aren’t they? But who gave them the right to judge and make intuitions about us? Why do we make perceptions about others for what we see? Do we even know the person, the real reason behind their actions? Not me, not you nor anyone is supposed to judge others, we have no rights. Then why do we? Let’s stop it and say no more to judgments! We shall be free only when we stop judging others and stop worry about people judging us!

“May we think of freedom not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right” – Peter Marshall.

I will be free,

From all the social barriers,

I will fight all the slayers,

Which makes my life scarier.

-        By -  Humaira Kazi.