Freedom

Pooya an Iranian blogger in London has posted a thoughtful note about Freedom and his childhood experince.

It's a beautiful thing to be free and much more appreciated when you've arrived and had to earn your freedom rather than having it handed to you at birth..
I was quite young when I left Iran and there are few memories I have of the time before. Most of them are pleasant images of my family and my childhood but some are grim reminders of what life is like for many people across the world.
The freedom I cherished more as I grew was the freedom from the education that they wished to teach me. The freedom to live free of religious brainwashing was a gift from my father, who despite being a very religious person, understood implicitly that faith is not something that is delivered at the barrel of the gun and morality is something you learn by the examples of your parents and family.. His gift has enriched my life as much as his self-sacrifice in bringing me into an opportunity filled world.

That said, freedom is a scary thing and what is worse is that sometimes those who take their own freedoms for granted can so easily steal that which you cherish and suffered to have.
Today as I watch my countrymen in Iran struggle to find their voice and their own freedom, it would be ungrateful of me to complain about the weaknesses of the world I inhabit but it would be a disservice to all those who have suffered in the name of freedom if we were to lose the vigilance that guarantees our continued prosperity.

Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it - Thomas Paine

(posted by Iman)

Posted:Wednesday, July 16, 2003 |