A Life of Freedom

When you're born, you're just a baby, and therefore you rely on your parents to do the most basic things, such as eat. Without help from others, you would die. At this point, you don't even know how to walk yet, so you have the freedom of a tree — you can't go anywhere. But it's fine, because you don't want to go anywhere. You're still trying to make sense of the world around you, and as far as you know, the world is no bigger than your bedroom.

As you grow older and start going to school, some things change. Your world just got bigger, and you realize that there are many people your age that you can have fun with. At the beginning, you don't want to go to school because it's unknown territory and you're afraid of the unknown, but you're not free to choose whether to go or not, so you go anyway. When you finally get used to going to school, the situation changes. Now you don't want to go home; you want to stay a while longer to play with your friends a little bit more, but you are not free, so you have no choice. You have to go home, sometimes by force.

Now you're a teenager, and a whole new world has opened up to you. Now you're attracted to the opposite sex and you want to start dating, but you're not free to do that because they say you're too young for this kind of thing. But for the first time in your life, you realize that you don't have to do what other people tell you, so you start dating anyway, as nobody is going to find out after all. And that goes pretty well until the day your parents do find out and you get grounded for a really long time. It's stupid, you think, that they punish you for trying to be free by taking away more of your freedom. And you're right, it really is stupid, but at least now you're almost eighteen, and when you become an adult, everything will change.

When you turn eighteen, nothing changes. You thought you would be free, but it seems that you gained more responsibility than freedom. Now you have to work to pay for your college and you have to get good grades at the same time, and sometimes it's hard to find the time to go out. You lost contact with all your friends from school, but at least you made a lot of new friends in college, and you will make sure that these friendships last forever. And then, as soon as you finish college, you find yourself with no friends at all. Now you have to work in two different jobs to pay off your college debt, and when you have time to do something you enjoy, like travelling for example, you don't have enough money. And when you have enough money, you realize that you don't have the time. So no freedom for you, sorry.

Finally, you are retired. Now you have the money and the time to do whatever you like. You're finally free! But wait a moment, your back hurts and you're feeling really tired. You don't think you should go on that hiking trip. Maybe you should just stay at home and watch TV instead. Your body certainly won't complain about that. You have to watch over your grandchildren anyway; your son and his wife are too busy working, and they can't take care of the children by themselves. Maybe you'll be free in your next life... if there ever is one.