I often hear people talk about our freedom…. and feel most strongly that fear and the need to “conform” in as many ways as possible eats at that very freedom.
I was reading a post by Lelia Thomas about freedom. And while the ideas are not new, they are well worth the re-telling. She writes quite eloquently. And her thoughts in this particular post resonate within me.
Truly Freedom is a choice one must actively make at times and all too often the masses fail to make the choice…believing either that they already have their freedom, or that because they are “just” they will never have that freedom taken from them.
Sadly freedom is seldom taken away from us outright…all too often it is whittled away, and erroded one small bit at a time. And in an effort to point this out to others… those who can see or feel it happening are ridiculed.
The reason I use the term sadly is because people are so much more willing to fight for it if they feel the threat. When they don’t feel the threat – they say there is nothing to fear. This behavior works against people in so many ways…. one of which is un-reasonable amounts of fear over things that were always a threat but because they were suddenly hyped in the media – are now feeling scary to them so they want action taken. That action then takes away one more layer of freedom.
So what is freedom? I think freedom may just very well be like an onion. It consists of many layers, that when pealed away one at a time reveal nothing at the center – maybe just a seed of a thought. All together it is tangible – solid – something to hold onto. It can make us cry when we cut into it. The aroma is strong and very recognizable. Once chopped up you can taste it – but it is often hidden. The pieces are still there adding flavor and a reminder of the whole. The best we can do is sow new seeds and try to bring forth a new onion.
Today I shall work on my website for my artwork and ponder the choices I have made for my own freedom – however small. And offer you some of my precious seeds to plant in your own life.
Thank you Lelia for sharing your seeds of freedom with me. You truly have a gift for writing.
