Balance of Freedom and Obedience

We all wish for freedom in some way. When growing up we need freedoms but some discipline is required.  Women flourish when given freedom to pursue their dreams and goals, yet in many cultures they are still forced to submission.  Free societies have more freedoms for their citizens to achieve their dreams and goals, compared with authoritative governments that insist on keeping centralized power and no freedom to the “small people.”

Children like to run around free, explore and imagine. Yet many parents think it important to discipline them: Sit straight!  Don’t speak with food in your mouth!  I find that kids become better adults when they are exposed to many experiences and are given the choices to do the things that ignite their imagination.  The balance of this is to teach some “manners”.  Basically kids need to learn to appreciate other kids and never fear that they would be discriminated against.

Women don’t have any basic rights in so many places in the world.  Even in the Western democracies women had to fight for their right to vote and it took a long process to grant them this right.  Equality is a right that we have to fight for continuously.  I’d like to bring here two extreme examples for women’s equality: Sharol Sandberg, one of the most successful women in social media: married, pregnant.  Sadly she lost her husband.  This is a woman at her best: Shining, active, a role model for many young girls.

Then you can look at this photo of young girls being sold as slaves by ISIS.

In 2015 some men believe that going back to the days of the caliphate is an ideal to strive for.  There are also many other women with no rights and no freedoms: women in India born into “generational prostitution,” and other examples you can watch in the documentary “Half the Sky.”

I believe we would all be better off if young girls would get a similar education to men everywhere.  If they were allowed basic freedoms and given their own choices they would be able to contribute so much more to our lives.  They would be raising the next generation of children the same way: freely encouraging imagination and creativity.

Freedom comes with responsibility. Freedom cannot be guaranteed if people do as they please without considering the consequences.  I will try and address this in a future post.