SOME
THOUGHTS ON FREEDOM
A simple definition of freedom is the right to do or say what you want without
anyone stopping you; and a free country
is that which has its own government without any foreign control.
Some synonyms of freedom are liberty, independence, self-government, sovereignty, autonomy,
democracy, etc.
An independent country has its own government which has full
powers to make rules for its citizens and grant them all sorts of rights and tell them what their duties are. Such a country continues to make itself as strong as possible, especially militarily, to protect its sovereignty.
It will not be wrong to say that no man in the world is
totally free. The Geneva-born political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(1712-1778) said : “Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains.” The Irish playwright and critic George Bernard
Shaw (1856-1950) said nature does not allow man to enjoy total freedom. For
example, he must sleep, act, walk, eat, speak, etc.
During the British rule: Mahatma Gandhi said: Freedom is never dear at
any price .
According to Dr. B. R.
Ambedkar: “We are Indians, firstly and lastly.”
On August 14, 1947 midnight when India became free from the foreign
rule, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru said: “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the
world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.”
The French philosopher Charles de Secondat Montesquieu (1689-1755}
said: “Countries are well cultivated, not as they are fertile, but as they are
free.”
And finally the following words of the Roman stoic philosopher
Epictetus (60 ?-120?): No man is free who is not master of himself.
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G.R.Kanwal
13 August 2024
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