My freedom is inextricably bound to yours. This is one of the theses which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., espoused in his “I have a dream” speech on August 28, 1963. It appears to be one of the things which many a great freedom fighter agree upon. Nelson Mandela also expressed it when he said: “For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
Through and by a design which was orchestrated independent of our will and consent from the creation of time, we share this world and the earthly space we inhabit. Advancements in science and technology are increasingly facilitating our ability to move around and shrinking the distances which separate one end of the world from the other. We are now even daring into space and areas of the universe uninhabited by man.
When we look around today it is not hard to come to the undeniable conclusion that a threat to freedom anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere. It is not hard to see how a lack of freedom in parts of Ukraine engendered a recklessness which has consequences that have now stolen the lives of citizens spanning many countries around the world. It is easy to see how the seeds of extremism are spreading around the globe, from the Middle East to Africa and the Americas, threatening the ability of every single person in the world to live freely from the palace of kings and presidents to the poorest persons in the hamlets of the hinterlands, in church and out of church, in schools and you name it. It is hard to think of a place on earth where one can run to certain freedom. A lack of freedom like disease knows no boundaries and nobody except in folly can claim a disconnection from a threat to freedom anywhere in the world. We cannot turn a blind eye to it and must be concerned by it.
Central and core to the concept and pursuit of Freedom and the ability to be free is therefore a security that in doing so we allow others and give them permission to do the same. While this may not be easy I think we all have a responsibility and need to go about living forward towards freedom with a consciousness that we are not robbing fellowman/woman in the process. In a weird way my freedom is inextricably tied to yours and yours to mine. Let us make a genuine effort to live it out in a manner which reflects this. Is this possible? Now that is the million dollar question.
©anhilaire
