FREEDOM... think again!
What is freedom?
At first I thought, that’ s a very narrow subject … but as I cogitated I began to appreciate the freedom that such a subject opens up. We can interpret it in any number of different ways; all sorts of‘ freedoms’ pop into my mind.
People Slavery: not the kind that jumps to mind. I am thinking of other situations where one might yearn for freedom, along the lines of the wish for release from a tough or difficult relationship. Some of us get ourselves tied into marriages that are made in hell. I have a neighbor whose life is just so miserable because her husband drinks and beats her. Daisy is far too timid to‘ opt out’ not having enough confidence to face the world by herself. Imagine being tied to that sort of horror, dreading every evening, fearing the mood he might be in. Jim comes back from the pub at 10.30 pm, stumbling a little and finds a note“ Your supper is in the oven.” He picked a fight over the supper that is dried out and overcooked. He winds himself up into a rage which culminates in him giving her a punch on her jaw, and another one to her middle. Daisy came to my flat this morning holding her ribs. It’ s none of my business. I know I should not intervene, but a broken rib and a broken jaw, not to mention a broken heart is more than I can bear. I took Daisy to the home for battered women, where she is safe for the time being. When Jim came home this evening he found a note on the kitchen table“ Your supper is in the dog!” written by me but not signed in case he came and gave me a punch too!
The Mind I have a cousin who has cared for her ailing mother for the last two years. Eli has always been a bubble of joy and has not ever complained about having her wings clipped because of her mother’ s needs. Eli’ s Mom has had a stroke, leaving her unable to speak, unable to walk without help. Imagine being that Mom! Imagine being trapped in a body that does not work anymore; where your words come out scrambled; with a mind that knows what it wants to say, but can’ t get the words out. You discover that you have forgotten how to read or write, you can’ t even write down what you are struggling to say. This is what nightmares are made of. You watch your daughter endeavoring to understand what you want. You try and get your words into line, but you know they are getting encrypted on the way out. You watch as she gradually loses that bubbly nature, frustration getting the better of her.
24
What sort of hell is this? And you have no control and no idea how to win through. The hospitals are full; the care homes have mostly closed their doors to anyone that has a relation at home who can look after them. When the day comes for that person to pass on to the next world, sadly it is just a great relief to both the one who is trapped and the one who has carried the load.
There surely is freedom at last.
Anyone reading this please make a note: I fully support euthanasia and if I land in this position, please arrange to release me into the next world as soon as possible.
Animals I hate to see animals caged; I can’ t stand zoos where the big cats pace up and down the perimeters of their enclosures. Even though the modern zoos have tried to enlarge the pieces of ground where these animals live, they are still restricted, living un-natural lives. You can see the boredom and misery in their expressions. It does not matter whether it is monkeys or mongooses, elephants or emus I find it cruel in the extreme. And as for birds in aviaries, especially raptors, I hate to see these magnificent examples of the aerial species confined to a few square meters of space. Watch them in the wild, see them soar, riding the thermals, covering miles in seconds; then swooping on some unsuspecting mammal and carrying it off to the nest, high on a perpendicular cliff, to feed their hungry chicks. That is the law of the jungle; that is freedom.
In nature there are many examples where freedom can be celebrated. Have you ever watched a chick hatching from an egg? The chick has grown so large after consuming the yolk inside the egg, it needs to break out of there, so it pecks a hole in the shell, and gradually enlarges it until it can emerge, bedraggled and as ugly as sin, because newly hatched chicks have only scanty down covering their bodies. It only takes minutes to dry out and fluff up, and demand food from whichever parent is near enough to provide. And only weeks later, when feathers have replaced the down the parents will encourage it to jump off that ledge, flap its wings and fly! That surely is freedom!
But the most wondrous hatching is watching a butterfly break out of a chrysalis. It emerges all scrunched up, pauses while its wings unfurl, then it gives them a shake while they dry and without a seconds thought it is up and away …. up into the wild blue yonder. What a miracle of nature – what freedom!
Carole Brisbane West