• It is a commonly held belief amongst many people that freedom is a wonderful thing that should be sought after. Though what is it exactly that's so great about freedom and why do we idealize it so much? By 'freedom' I refer to absolute and total freedom, but is such freedom as beneficial or positive as we make it out to be?


    To go by the definition of the word "freedom", then no country is truly free, and I don't think any country would want to truly be free. Countries like America claim to be founded on freedom. Freedom would be anarchy because freedom, by it's definition, is essentially being able to do whatever you want and if all are allowed to do as they wish, things would be a mess. For example, wild animals are free though they aren't overjoyed by their "sense of freedom". Wild animals spend their lives searching/hunting for food, overcome with constant paranoia and are more susceptible to the harshness of nature.
    Some will claim that kind of free lifestyle would be worth the risk, even if for only a short while, because those people don't understand that such a lifestyle would actually be a miserable and paranoid lifestyle where all one ever does attempt and struggle to survive.


    I think what people actually want is freedoms and not freedom. By freedoms I'm referring to what we call "Rights". However, to refer to them as "Rights" would also be an inaccurate term, as rights are nothing more than an idea created by people. If a government can take away a right and just as easily allow a right, then it's not really a right to begin with because a right would be something to which one would be justly entitled to. A more accurate term would be "Privileges" because if our rights are determined by a governing figure, then they are nothing more than privileges that may or may not be given to us. Some countries have more privileges than others and some have almost no privileges. To refer to our "Rights" as "Privileges" is not a bad thing though. It is natural for most people to want to be given more privileges from their government rather than be let loose into the wild. The idea of freedom has become a very misconstrued idea from what it truly means and has misled many people in the wrong direction.


    Though what obligation does a government have to give us privileges? They are the government after all so there's no one above them telling them what to do. Most often a government will give it's citizens privileges in hopes to keep the nation strong and healthy and to keep the people from revolting. They appease the people and the people keep the nation together by contributing and remaining loyal to the state/government. Essentially the government keeps us alive and keeps society together and we give the government purpose. From a political standpoint this would give the government more responsibility than the actual people. We the people should be willing to accept more responsibility upon ourselves to keep the nation in top condition because by not taking responsibility the government finds the necessity to use force to keep the nation in top condition. To keep a reasonable and fair government from becoming corrupt is by in turn not allowing ourselves to become corrupt. The government is composed of the people after all, so if the people are corrupt then the government will be corrupt. We should look to correcting ourselves before we point the blame at the government or anyone else, and we should not consider ourselves entitled to anything other than what we earn on our own.


    Humans are naturally group creatures that operate better together than alone, and I find it is a more admirable trait to want to work together alongside your fellow humans in hopes to decrease overall human suffering and/or reach a higher goal than to work alone and be "free". Anarchy and Individuality is not natural in nature because ever since the earliest era of humans it was realized that a bigger and more cooperative group is better. Society began in the form of small groups of humans cooperating together within tribes in order to ensure the survival of not only group, but each individual looking out for their own well-being by working with others. Those small groups of early humans grew over time, some groups dying away and some continuing to grow larger in population, and eventually became what we refer to today as countries. Had we humans remained free and never gained the mental capacity to understand the benefits of unity, then we most likely wouldn't have survived as a species.


    While working together and creating unity among the people is beneficial to a society, one should not be forced to cooperate unless they wish to cooperate, and most people should realize the benefit of cooperating with those who are willing to do the same in return. This goes back to the previous mention of government choosing to either appease the people or to force the people, and if a government uses force then that leaves the people unhappy. If the people are unhappy then they will revolt or lose their loyalty to the government, which in the end leaves both the government and the people in losing positions. To maintain a harmony the people and the government should be willing to work and cooperate together to ensure that each side achieves it's goals because if one side falls then so does the other. The best solution would be to not force people to cooperate, but to convince people into cooperating. This same concept can also be applied to a citizen-to-citizen relationship rather than exclusively to a citizen-to-government relationship. By cooperating with ones fellow compatriots we not only display ourselves nobly but we increase the chance of advancement in our own well-being. However, if appeasement fails and a government or one of our compatriots is not willing to cooperate, then those who do not cooperate should not be given those privileges previously mentioned because if the harmony between people-and-people or people-and-government is disturbed then one side loses, thus we all lose. If a government or citizen acts destructively to the well-being of either the people or the government then the balance of the society should still continue so as to maintain harmony and action should be taken against any who act destructively, whether it be the government against the people, the people against the government, the people against each other, or even the government against itself.

    Through unity and cooperation, order and balance, and discipline and responsibility of both the government and the people a better society can be achieved. By rejecting the ideas of freedom and entitlement and accepting the necessity of establishing a harmony through cooperation and taking more responsibility upon ourselves toward the group rather than our own desires, we may not only further the advancement of human society but as well our own individual peace and content.