Freedom, the only thing a child
always wanted but did not realise he or she already had it. There is not much
to describe about freedom, the word itself explained everything, is what a
person does with it, that changes the meaning of this word. Although some might
disagree with me, but here are my thoughts about the word, freedom, and it's
meaning towards me.
We were given freedom each day, to live our lives to the fullest or
stuck in the past. That's one of the ways I look at freedom. We always had freedom
given to us, but we were just being ungrateful and complained about not having
freedom. Some people weren't given the freedom to live under a roof, to eat, to
survive and I got all that. Every day when I first wake up, I am thankful of
lord, for thou who let me survive the previous night. I am then free to choose
whether I'll be a positive or negative person that day. Choices are freedom,
the first choice I make at the start of my day is waking up. With itself, it
shows everyone, that I had a choice to skip whatever I was planning to do that
day, to be lazy or to be lying about being sick, but I did not. That's what
freedom feels like, the chance to choose how I'm going to start my day.
As a student, we were often told by substitution teacher that we were free to do what we want in class. When that happens, everyone would start
talking or sharing jokes around the table. For me, the freedom feels like I could write, read and express myself without a limited space. I, myself, likes to
write. Poetry, stories, diaries, you name it, I've wrote it. When I am writing, it
feels like I'm in my own space, my own world. My story, my life, were expressed
through my writings. Examinations nowadays are limiting the students. They are
trying to cut a circle into a square. Therefore, students like me, were unable
to write our story to our full potential. An examination has its own set of
answers and now, they are deducting marks off our papers if we are not
following the route of it. With it, it cuts off our freedom to write, to
express. So, whenever I was given the freedom to write, I'll pour my heart and soul to that one or two pages of essay. My emotions are in sync with my
writing, each and every one of my essays meant something to me. The freedom to
write meant more than just finishing a homework assigned by a teacher, it meant
my life. It meant I'm mature enough, to have the freedom and to be creative of
how I want to pen my story.
Other than that, freedom to me, as a daughter, is the freedom of
choosing my occupation, the courses I want to study, the kind of jobs I'm
choosing and many more choices to come with it. Teenagers nowadays were often
controlled by parents. Teenagers, like me, had parents planned our future before I was
even born. Although I understand it was for my own good and will be guaranteed
a stable job, it is still not what I enjoyed doing. This kind of freedom were the
ones nowadays parents do not give us, because they think we are not mature
enough to make such a huge choice. It is undeniably true, however, I did not
have the freedom to choose my future, it had always been planned and I would probably never enjoy it. Life is short and this was not the way I intended it to
be. I, as a teenager, had been told many times by relatives, telling me I had to be a doctor, accountant, lawyer, engineer and so forth. These thoughts were
screwed into my head before I even knew how to walk. The freedom of choice in
this part of life was a huge risk, but at least I'm able to choose something I
knew I would be determine to hold on to.
Lastly, as a person, the best freedom is the freedom of being myself. In
the society's eye, I had often put up a smile but most of the time, that smile was not genuine, it was just an act. I was a shy, quiet girl, who was afraid of
rejection, humiliation, embarrassment, teased, hate and attention. I was deeply saddened
that even a child as young as 7, was already insecure with his or her own body
because someone from school told him or her that they are fat, ugly, weird etc. I am not saying that people
did not have the rights to do so, but if you have nothing nice to say, why
bother saying it in the first place? Though wounds and scars will fade, but
words are burned into our heads forever. I think, if one have to get the
freedom of this, we must first be courageous to gain self-confidence. We can join
many activities to achieve that, such as public speaking, debate, group
activities, presentation, discussion groups, theater and so forth. After I had
gained self-confidence, I am never afraid to be myself. What other better way to be a
person, than being yourself. Self-confidence had helped me gained the freedom
of being me. Be proud of who I have come to be and keep growing to be who I
intended of being. The freedom of being who I really am without anyone's
permission. That, my friend, is freedom.
Freedom is not something you set it to be, it can be absolutely anything
you want it to be. I encourage everyone to speak up, because the day you
stopped speaking up, is the day your freedom truly ends. I hope this article
had helped you understand more about the word.
-thank you for reading. xoxo
