Freedom and its Incarnations
“Freedom” is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. It’s a great buzzword and motivator, a noble concept sprinkled liberally throughout speeches and debates, although no-one seems to know precisely what it means anymore. Living in Hong Kong, I straddle the fine line between great personal freedom, and the very real possibility of it one day being stripped from me. For most teenagers, to “come of age” implies the realization of our freedoms and the occasional exploitation of them. But for me, it has also been to reconcile the many different kinds of freedom around me: the freedom I am perceived to have, the freedom of people just across the border in China, and most importantly, the beautiful paradox of how one can choose to be free.
I first began to question the notion of ‘freedom’ as a 15 year old with a burgeoning interest in history, human rights, and activism. When I attended the Tiananmen Square Massacre vigil for the first time, I was shocked by the disparity of permissions around me. Surrounded by football fields of people, we were campaigning for rights that couldn’t even be mentioned a mere 50 kilometers north of us. It struck me as laughably absurd (for in China, the nouveau rich possess hundreds of designer handbags but not the right to free speech), but also unbearably real – even in Hong Kong, I won’t be able to vote for our Chief Executive when I turn 18. It seems like a hugely anticlimactic culmination of youth, that the truth is I wield no actual power or freedom at all.
And as my interest in human rights shifted towards a more personal, vested interest in feminism and LGBT issues, I felt increasingly alienated by peers and family members who regarded activism as frivolous, unnecessary, and overly idealistic. But it’s true that for many people in the safe bubble of economic prosperity, personal luxuries outweigh any fight or struggle for those esoteric concepts of “freedom” or “democracy”. And such superficial freedoms – the freedom to earn money, be comfortable, and watch TV (although nothing subversive) – keep masking people’s need for a true sense of liberty.
That’s how I’ve come to realize that freedom can be both a blessing and a trap. It’s far too easy for the prosperous to sink so deep into the comfort and routine of everyday life, that they forget how to care and feel. And it’s far too common for the educated to judge based on ideals and principles, rather than what’s right in front of them. Despite the rhetoric that comes along with the word, I believe that “true freedom” begins with the mere awareness and realization of our containment: that just understanding our limitations, be they physical, intellectual, or political, is our first step to escaping them.
In his speech This Is Water, David Foster Wallace says that the greatest freedom “involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able to care about other people and sacrifice for them in myriad petty, unsexy ways everyday”. I have since taken the philosophy of This is Water as my personal mantra. I am incredibly lucky to have been born into relative economical and political security, but it is the way I choose to harness that freedom, education, and awareness that truly defines me. The everyday choice to simply think and care is the greatest freedom of all, and the conscious decision to fight for that freedom – to actively learn, explore, and protest against mindless acceptance, is the most important part.
- á¡ိá္ေáးáá á¡ိá္áါ။- á¡ားေáးáို áာáဲ ျáá
္ျáá
္ áျáá
္ျáá
္ áွီáဲáá္႔ေáာ á¡áြá္ျáá
္áá္။ – Comment ေáး áေáး áိုáာ á¡áု ေáာá္áိုá္း á်ေáာ္áá္း á¡ေáာ္áို á
á¥္းá
ားေáááဲ႔ áိá
ၥáို ျáá
္áá္။ – ေááá္áá္ áိုááá္းá á¡ဲáီáူá áာáွ ááိáို႔áါ။ áူá်ား áá္áဲá áá္áို ျáá္ျáီး áံá
ားáံုေáာ္áá္ áိုáာ ျáá္ေá¡ာá္ á¡áá္ၾáá္႔ áá္႔áá္။ – ေျáေáာá္á်á္း áိá္áိုá္áá္ áိုáဲ႔ áါá္áံု áျáá္áူးáါ။ á¡ဲáီáို áိုá္ေáြáို áေáာá္၍ ျáá
္áá္။ áို႔ေáးေá
áိုáါáá္။ ေáá္áို ျáá္á်á္၍ ျáá
္áá္။- ႏွá္áုá္áá္ áိုá္á¡á်ႌáွá္႔ áိုá္áုá္áါ။ áိုááá á¡á်ႌႏွá္႔áြား ááုá္áါáဲ႔။ áá္ျáá
္ááိá္႕áá္။ ( ေá¡ာá္áာ. . áါ ááာၾáီး ေááံ ေáါá္ေááါေáာáား áီးáီး )
Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular article! It is the little changes that make the most significant changes. Many thanks for sharing!
áာáဲ့ á်á္áာáူáွာ áူáူá်á္းáိုá္áိáá္ ျáá္áာ áေáာ့á္áါေáြ áုá္áား။ ေáá္ ေáá္ áိုáာáားေááá္áá္áိုáာေáာ့ áိáူး။ áုáားáá္áုိးၿáီး ေááာေáာ့ áုá္áူးáá္။ áီေááာáွာေáာ့ áá္႕á်á္áို႕áို áá္႕ á¡áုá áá္႕áဲ့ေáá္။ áá္းေျáá áံုႀáá့္ၿáီးၿáီ ေျáá်á္းá်ိá္áႀáီးáူးáါ။ ေáá္áို áá္áá္ေá
ေáာ á¡á္áီáြá္ေáာá္áံုးၾáá့္áံု á¡ား áိá္á
ာေáးေá
áိုáါáá္ ။ áိá္á
ာáေáးáá္ áါးá
ာ á¡ဲ ေáးá္áို႕ေáးáါ။ áြီ။á်á္းáာ á á္းá်ာ áá္းႆာ áါေá
ေá်ာá္း။ ႏွာေá
းáá္ á်ားá်ားá¡ိá္ေáးáါ။
áြá္áá္á
ြာ áြဲáြဲáြá့္áိွáါáá္…áြá္áá္á
ြာ áြá္႕áá္႕ေáးáာ áားáá္áါáá္။ áူးááို ေáါááို áုá္áြားáာáိုáá္း áá္းáံáားáါáá္။ á¡áူးáါး áိုááိုá်ိဳး áá်ိဳ႕ေááာေáြáွာ á်á္áá္áါးáá္á
ြာ áá္ေáွာá္áá္áာáိုáá္း ျáá္áူးáါáá္။ ေá
ááာေáြáá္း áံá
ားáူးáါáá္။áုိေၾáာá့္ á¡ျáá္ááá္áါ။ áို႕ေááá္áá္း ááါáေá áá
္á်ဴáွဳáားáါáá္။á¡áုáြá္႕áá္႕áို áá္á်á္ááို áá္áါ။ áားáá္ááို áá္áိုá္áါ။ áာေáးáြားáာáဲ áုိáာ á¡áိáၸါá္ျáá္ေáးáို႕á¡áြá္ á¡á်ိá္ áá¡ားေၾáာá္းáါ။
Somebody needs to be warned of this before people start going bonkers in July and August …Both Ford and Chrysler, so far, have announced they will suspend some of the usual early July shutdowns for model-year changes due to increased demand and need to crank out more cars. This happened last year and 2010 also.What this means is … initial jobless claims will take a dive in early July … and then spike up in late July as a counter-reaction in the seasonal adjustments.Since this will be the 3rd year in a row of this, hopefully the Labor Dept's seasonal adjustments will have incorporated this new phenomenon into their algorithm, but I suspect that will only be partially the case.Since two weeks includes the week of the 12th – which is the BLS survey week – this also means July's jobs number will probably be better than expected, but then August's will be worse than expected.
Becky-Thank you, I love your words~Wanda-Thanks Wanda, I will be by to see how you are. I have missed you!Michele-Thank you; I wrote it fast and rereading it know, I should of edit. It was raw and real~Koralee-Thank you; Your blog is beautiful~Scarlett-Yes, we have to follow our passion!Thank you~Jenny-Thank you; much happiness to you. I will be by to see how your class is going~Sherry-Thank you, so true, it does tend our soul…love these words!Alex-Thank you, it meant a lot, for you to comment on my story. Thanks for your kindness on your blog, too~ Hi Dez-Thank you; I wish I had edited it, but left it as it was.Yvonne-Thank you; It means a lot~Lisa-Thank you; I wonder about that…I think I have always used my creative side. It helped me land my last job. Just not in the facet I wanted…Wendy-Thank you; I still have a few thorns, but don't we all! Lisa-Thank you; life isn't easy, but this is how we learn, develop and find ways to cope!xXx
Becky-Thank you, I love your words~Wanda-Thanks Wanda, I will be by to see how you are. I have missed you!Michele-Thank you; I wrote it fast and rereading it know, I should of edit. It was raw and real~Koralee-Thank you; Your blog is beautiful~Scarlett-Yes, we have to follow our passion!Thank you~Jenny-Thank you; much happiness to you. I will be by to see how your class is going~Sherry-Thank you, so true, it does tend our soul…love these words!Alex-Thank you, it meant a lot, for you to comment on my story. Thanks for your kindness on your blog, too~ Hi Dez-Thank you; I wish I had edited it, but left it as it was.Yvonne-Thank you; It means a lot~Lisa-Thank you; I wonder about that…I think I have always used my creative side. It helped me land my last job. Just not in the facet I wanted…Wendy-Thank you; I still have a few thorns, but don't we all! Lisa-Thank you; life isn't easy, but this is how we learn, develop and find ways to cope!xXx
Becky-Thank you, I love your words~Wanda-Thanks Wanda, I will be by to see how you are. I have missed you!Michele-Thank you; I wrote it fast and rereading it know, I should of edit. It was raw and real~Koralee-Thank you; Your blog is beautiful~Scarlett-Yes, we have to follow our passion!Thank you~Jenny-Thank you; much happiness to you. I will be by to see how your class is going~Sherry-Thank you, so true, it does tend our soul…love these words!Alex-Thank you, it meant a lot, for you to comment on my story. Thanks for your kindness on your blog, too~ Hi Dez-Thank you; I wish I had edited it, but left it as it was.Yvonne-Thank you; It means a lot~Lisa-Thank you; I wonder about that…I think I have always used my creative side. It helped me land my last job. Just not in the facet I wanted…Wendy-Thank you; I still have a few thorns, but don't we all! Lisa-Thank you; life isn't easy, but this is how we learn, develop and find ways to cope!xXx
Becky-Thank you, I love your words~Wanda-Thanks Wanda, I will be by to see how you are. I have missed you!Michele-Thank you; I wrote it fast and rereading it know, I should of edit. It was raw and real~Koralee-Thank you; Your blog is beautiful~Scarlett-Yes, we have to follow our passion!Thank you~Jenny-Thank you; much happiness to you. I will be by to see how your class is going~Sherry-Thank you, so true, it does tend our soul…love these words!Alex-Thank you, it meant a lot, for you to comment on my story. Thanks for your kindness on your blog, too~ Hi Dez-Thank you; I wish I had edited it, but left it as it was.Yvonne-Thank you; It means a lot~Lisa-Thank you; I wonder about that…I think I have always used my creative side. It helped me land my last job. Just not in the facet I wanted…Wendy-Thank you; I still have a few thorns, but don't we all! Lisa-Thank you; life isn't easy, but this is how we learn, develop and find ways to cope!xXx
Hi Ellie!A big congratulations on your awards! Thank you so very much for passing on the Awesome Award to me – you're such a sweetie, thank you so much for thinking of me! Makes me all smiley and warm inside. Recently I did decide to go "award free" on my blog – I got very weepy after I gave out the Trendy blog award and you and one other blogger were the only two to talk about it on your blogs and pass it on – some didn't even acknowledge it on their blog. Silly of me, but it really hurt my feelings. So I thought, that's it – blogging isn't supposed to be painful and I'm a "wear my heart on my sleeve" kind of person. Please know that I love that you gave me this award. I think your voice is very special and I enjoy you very much. Anyway, so thank you, bunches and bunches for thinking of me and I hope you will understand when I don't pass the award along.Happy happy 4th to you!Sally
Hi Lisa-I am so happy about your new visitor at your home, great sign! Thank you for stopping by~Hart-Thank you and I loved the way you put that!Summer is a road construction nightmare!Hi Sherry-Thank you! Welcome to the amazing world of blogging! You have a way with words~Patricia-How fun that was; Thank you!!! It is nice to share the love of Fall; I will be following your blog to see if your pics, when Fall's colors burst open!Alex-That's me; Thanks for visiting me! I am going to try to rent the RUSH DVD, when available~Julie-Nothing boring about that heritage; I love your accent! YOU would laugh at mine ;-DMoving is just another adventure; One box at a time~ Enjoy that wonderful view!!! 3 n' 7…wow!Mr. S-You are funny; I enjoyed your blog. I don't want to call you stupid. How bout Mr. Silly?!Yvonne-Thanks for visiting; YOU are so sweet~
