Freedom at the stroke of midnight, I learned from my history books. I was intrigued when there were calls for freedom now in my country. I imagined that freedom was official and had been declared when we, as a country, had the freedom to choose its government. A poet in my place put it very succinctly, “Do you have the freedom to state your views without fear?”.
I argued in my mind that society has some boundaries, and how can it be called trifling freedom. If you don’t like society’s rules, change to a society which suits you. This is the narrative I adopted during COVID; vaccination drive was not 100% complete. Few of our fellow citizens were against the ‘imposition’. I didn’t fault the government which mandated vaccination proof to enter usually accessible locations. A public health researcher explained again succinctly. Constitution grants you freedom, on choice, expression, faith etc. How can the government curtail it in the name of the common good. Wow a debate! But no debate happened. There were groups which supported it and others who voiced against it.
COVID again taught me a lesson. Students were upset that they had to pay fees when face to face classes were suspended. Reduce the fees as you don’t spend money on infrastructure. A Facebook post went viral. One of my colleagues suggested that we ban students who post negatively on university in social media. It found good traction and was almost implemented. I was uncomfortable but didn’t know why. Now I know, in some groups, in some locations, in some situations, our freedom is curtailed. I ask this question, is my freedom curtailed or am I the one curtaining it for myself and others? Do I have the power to deny freedom to anyone in my circle?
I write blogs on Academic Coaching, topics that empower students in their learning journey. If you want to subscribe to email alerts for new content, click here. All blog posts available here.
Note on Comments: If you don’t want to share your details, use Name as Anonymous and email address as Anonymous@Anonymous.com. All comments will be moderated. Logging is not required to comment.