on freedom ( a philo reflection)

September 27, 2005

Are humans free? Are we entitled to do everything we wanted to do, we wanted to accomplish, we wanted to get, everywhere we wanted to arrive at? Do we have the complete assurance that nobody is in control? What about our liabilities? Our weaknesses and shortcomings? Do they say that we are not free?

A few days ago, I had to absent myself from school due to an incessant pain in my upper right abdomen. After running series of tests advised by four different medical experts, we found out that it was because my right kidney cannot anymore hold a valuable amount of water which causes my acidity level to rise up real frequently. This means that unless I feed myself with water in an atleast-1-glass-per-hour basis, then my kidney would never return to it hydrating state again. So, every now and then I have to refill my bottle of water and visit the washroom (the part which I really hate) to keep the pain away.

So how does that make a connection to freedom? Let me get to the sad part. The water therapy that is recommended to me is REALLY water therapy. Water yesterday, water now, water later, and water tomorrow. For the past few days I have been drinking no other liquids (except milk) than water. I have been dismally derived from the victuals that used to keep my taste buds gloriously energetic and are those that practically are still taken by normal people my age or even not. I miss soft drinks, cola or Mountain Dew, and since I am unfortunately “salty-toothed”, I have to say goodbye temporarily to curls and chips, French Fries, or anything at all that has salt in them. I can take some but those that appear in finer amounts. The week has been hellish, but for my own sake, I have to ride onto this jeep of wellness.

Pretty much as you can see, I have been derived of my freedom to eat what I want. You might say that this thing that I am undergoing now makes me think that if that is the case, then we are not really free. Actually not. This experience tells me a lot of things about freedom. If I look into the past, I could admit that I was free to eat whatever that pleased my eyes and get my tongue enthusiastic. But sadly, I abused that freedom. I had the opportunity, the freedom to take good care of myself before but I landed into the other side of the field. I was careless and undeniably reckless, and I had to hear my kidneys weeping for help before I finally stop.

If I were derived from those things now, that is because I was not responsible enough in handling my own freedom. Had I taken the more nutritious foods with a sufficient amount of water, and not to worsen things by taking in coke, I would’ve well reached the homeostatic state of my body. There wouldn’t have been any problem at all. But with how I moved, I really deserve whatever I have to undergo today. And good for me because I was given another chance to straighten my stooping back.

Now, I could say I am in the disciplinary mode. Discipline. It is what that I also lacked when I was wreaking a lot of consumption of those health-endangering foods. The next time that my freedom will be given back to me, I already have learned a lot of lesson to become careless again.

So are humans free? Yes we are. But the freedom humans have is not ABSOLUTE. It comes with great responsibility and hanging on its tail is real discipline. Unless we are hurting ourselves (like what I did with my right kidney), or step onto other people’s shoes, then we can do it without the hang of being derived of that freedom one day. But we also have the freedom to abuse, and that is our choice. If we choose to abuse that freedom, certainly, it will let us pay in return.

In my reflection, I guess freedom shall never work on a one-way street basis. We are given freedom; we give back responsibility and discipline. It follows the it-takes-two-to-tango statement. Freedom is not just one beautiful word. If you do not read “responsibility” and “discipline” between the lines, then you might not enjoy freedom at its best.