“With freedom comes responsibility.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
I just showed this quote because this is highly relevant to this topic I’m starting. First and foremost, if we check our handy dictionaries, the word “freedom” would mean like “the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints.” Basing our conclusions in the dictionary, freedom means we can do anything without being told off, whereas the word “responsibility” if consulted in the said book, means “the obligation to carry forward an assigned task to a successful conclusion.” This tells us that responsibility means something that we are obliged to do; a must. Judging by their literary definitions, these two words do seem to be exact opposites, but if this is the case, why does the particular quote say, “with freedom comes responsibility?”
Let’s start this discussion with one of the most well-known government systems; democracy. If we have Abraham Lincoln to thank for imposing democracy in America, we have the Athenians to thank for its existence in the first place. We all know quite some time ago that democracy is a kind of government where people have the privilege to choose the leader, work with the leader, and bring down the leader if necessary.
Elections of leaders are conducted, as I’m sure you know, by voting. From this point, it is imminent that there is freedom. People are free to choose who to elect, and they are free to express their opinions about this matter. This fact extends to other aspects, like science and philosophy. Freedom is always a nice idea to think about, but let’s proceed to the much serious side of this unique government system.
It’s not always sunshine in a nation. For some reason, corruption has been a stereotype for the government we are in, and I don’t blame the political critics for this one, because in some aspects, this is true. Odious as it may seem, but it’s not really difficult and time-taking to point out that some of the world’s past, and most probably present politicians are corrupted to an unfathomable degree, and this is just ugly as sin.
Bush was a grave disappointment not just to America, but to the whole world, I assume. Almost everything he did, if not all, was just so wrong in many levels. For instance, he bombarded Iraq fruitlessly, with the US army in distress and the American economy suffering because of the continuous purchasing of weaponry. Now, as the 2010 elections here in the Philippines approaches, I can’t help thinking that we might end up with the same scenario like the last decades. I’ve had enough of Estrada and Ramos.
This is where “responsibility” comes in. It was the people who put them in place, and it is the people’s job to defend what’s right. While I’m not one-sided, sometimes the leaders are actually right, althought the populace are quite oblivious about what the government’s trying to say, but this is the basic idea of what Roosevelt is implying. We are practically free; we are free-thinking beings, and we are free to decide, and to fight if necessary. But behind all these free’s, there is a “reminder” that keeps us on the right track, a memo that keeps us constantly reminded that as we enjoy our freedom, we should keep ourselves productive.
Simply put, true freedom lies in the fact that you know that you yourself are free, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too, in a sense that you have accepted that man having obligations is inevitable, and have accepted at the same time, the possibility of gaining it, and being prepared to execute it properly. A man who thinks he is free from practically everything, is actually imprisoned in his own delusions, and deserves a nice whack in the head. Freedom is knowing that there is “play,” and “work” as well.
Even so, some of our people just can’t cope up with this one, which gives Philippine democracy a bad name. While I’m certainly not close to agreeing with the implementation of totalitarianism, for one thing, a good number of Filipinos are abusive, and are partially oblivious that they are gradually forgetting the other side of life, be it freedom or responsibility. Some people abuse in a sense that they take advantage of their freedom and actually laze all day leaving all the work to other men, and in some cases, harm others for their own benefit. Some people abuse themselves, in a way that they actually seclude themselves from the living to drown themselves in their obsession to accomplish something. Looks like one of the two spices of life is being overdone, while the other is being neglected.
This brings us to Siddhartha Gautama’s teachings about the Middle Way; the place of regulation and moderation, you get the idea. This simply tells us that freedom and responsibility are both attainable, although we must balance these aspects. If we stick the extreme level of one side, then there’s no chance of us reaching out to the other side. To sum up things, there is a midpoint between freedom and responsibility. Those who laze around all day wasting their freedom certainly have this, because of the sole reason that they don’t get anything done. Those who are so desperate to get things done don’t have this too, in a sense that they can’t, or don’t want to have some relaxing time, whether out of fear of not getting things done, or poor time management. Let’s just conceal this midpoint in the word “Discipline.”
Well, I guess I should end my article here, otherwise this might live up to my blog’s title; a somniferous handiwork, a soporific blog article. I sincrerely hope you enjoyed reading this article of mine, and hopefully, by luck, you were able to pick up some useful lessons after you have scrutinized my work.
Saying goodbye,
Arche
P.S: Kudos to www.thefreedictionary.com for a clear definition of the two words in question.
P.S.S: If, in any case, this article has distinct similarities with the others, this is truly unintentional.
I just showed this quote because this is highly relevant to this topic I’m starting. First and foremost, if we check our handy dictionaries, the word “freedom” would mean like “the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints.” Basing our conclusions in the dictionary, freedom means we can do anything without being told off, whereas the word “responsibility” if consulted in the said book, means “the obligation to carry forward an assigned task to a successful conclusion.” This tells us that responsibility means something that we are obliged to do; a must. Judging by their literary definitions, these two words do seem to be exact opposites, but if this is the case, why does the particular quote say, “with freedom comes responsibility?”
Let’s start this discussion with one of the most well-known government systems; democracy. If we have Abraham Lincoln to thank for imposing democracy in America, we have the Athenians to thank for its existence in the first place. We all know quite some time ago that democracy is a kind of government where people have the privilege to choose the leader, work with the leader, and bring down the leader if necessary.
Elections of leaders are conducted, as I’m sure you know, by voting. From this point, it is imminent that there is freedom. People are free to choose who to elect, and they are free to express their opinions about this matter. This fact extends to other aspects, like science and philosophy. Freedom is always a nice idea to think about, but let’s proceed to the much serious side of this unique government system.
It’s not always sunshine in a nation. For some reason, corruption has been a stereotype for the government we are in, and I don’t blame the political critics for this one, because in some aspects, this is true. Odious as it may seem, but it’s not really difficult and time-taking to point out that some of the world’s past, and most probably present politicians are corrupted to an unfathomable degree, and this is just ugly as sin.
Bush was a grave disappointment not just to America, but to the whole world, I assume. Almost everything he did, if not all, was just so wrong in many levels. For instance, he bombarded Iraq fruitlessly, with the US army in distress and the American economy suffering because of the continuous purchasing of weaponry. Now, as the 2010 elections here in the Philippines approaches, I can’t help thinking that we might end up with the same scenario like the last decades. I’ve had enough of Estrada and Ramos.
This is where “responsibility” comes in. It was the people who put them in place, and it is the people’s job to defend what’s right. While I’m not one-sided, sometimes the leaders are actually right, althought the populace are quite oblivious about what the government’s trying to say, but this is the basic idea of what Roosevelt is implying. We are practically free; we are free-thinking beings, and we are free to decide, and to fight if necessary. But behind all these free’s, there is a “reminder” that keeps us on the right track, a memo that keeps us constantly reminded that as we enjoy our freedom, we should keep ourselves productive.
Simply put, true freedom lies in the fact that you know that you yourself are free, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally too, in a sense that you have accepted that man having obligations is inevitable, and have accepted at the same time, the possibility of gaining it, and being prepared to execute it properly. A man who thinks he is free from practically everything, is actually imprisoned in his own delusions, and deserves a nice whack in the head. Freedom is knowing that there is “play,” and “work” as well.
Even so, some of our people just can’t cope up with this one, which gives Philippine democracy a bad name. While I’m certainly not close to agreeing with the implementation of totalitarianism, for one thing, a good number of Filipinos are abusive, and are partially oblivious that they are gradually forgetting the other side of life, be it freedom or responsibility. Some people abuse in a sense that they take advantage of their freedom and actually laze all day leaving all the work to other men, and in some cases, harm others for their own benefit. Some people abuse themselves, in a way that they actually seclude themselves from the living to drown themselves in their obsession to accomplish something. Looks like one of the two spices of life is being overdone, while the other is being neglected.
This brings us to Siddhartha Gautama’s teachings about the Middle Way; the place of regulation and moderation, you get the idea. This simply tells us that freedom and responsibility are both attainable, although we must balance these aspects. If we stick the extreme level of one side, then there’s no chance of us reaching out to the other side. To sum up things, there is a midpoint between freedom and responsibility. Those who laze around all day wasting their freedom certainly have this, because of the sole reason that they don’t get anything done. Those who are so desperate to get things done don’t have this too, in a sense that they can’t, or don’t want to have some relaxing time, whether out of fear of not getting things done, or poor time management. Let’s just conceal this midpoint in the word “Discipline.”
Well, I guess I should end my article here, otherwise this might live up to my blog’s title; a somniferous handiwork, a soporific blog article. I sincrerely hope you enjoyed reading this article of mine, and hopefully, by luck, you were able to pick up some useful lessons after you have scrutinized my work.
Saying goodbye,
Arche
P.S: Kudos to www.thefreedictionary.com for a clear definition of the two words in question.
P.S.S: If, in any case, this article has distinct similarities with the others, this is truly unintentional.
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