What is Freedom?

By: Larissa D.

I was asked recently what freedom means to me, and, to be quite honest, I had never given it much thought. I suppose that is the result of having been raised in a country where I do not have to worry too much about that idea. I have, in a way, lived a very privileged life – I have never been told that I could not one day own property, vote, or obtain an education. However, if I had been born in another country, or even in the United States a mere century ago, I would not enjoy the same freedoms that I have today.

That still begs the question: What is freedom? Whenever I hear that word, I always picture a bird in a cage. She is free to express herself through song, but she cannot soar through the sky with the wind blowing beneath her feathers. She cannot perch herself in a tree and feel the sunshine beat down upon her back. She cannot flit from place to place as she pleases. She is instead at the mercy of another being. She is not free.

How does this apply to mankind? Of course, human beings are not simply free to do whatever they please. They cannot kill or steal without being reprimanded. However, at least in the United States, people are free to protest peacefully, vote in elections, own property, obtain an education, sit in any seat that they choose on the bus or in a diner, and so on. Basically, man has the freedom to choose his own fate and to live life on a path chosen by the person himself, rather than by some other entity, as long as the choices that he makes do not infringe on the rights of another human being.

However, being free and being entitled to certain rights is not the same thing. For instance, while Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was imprisoned for murder, he certainly was not free. He was at the mercy of the judicial system until his conviction was overturned a second time 22 years after the crime he had allegedly committed had occurred. However, even during his imprisonment, Carter was still entitled to a trial before a jury of his peers and to exercise his right to appeal the decisions made against him all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.

Another highly publicized legal battle exists within the trial of Amanda Knox in the Italian courts for the alleged murder of her roommate in 2007. While Knox is now back in her hometown of Seattle, she has been convicted once again in the retrial that began in September 2013. According to an article from CNN, the retrial was the result of the decision from the Italian Supreme Court in March 2013 that stated that the jury that had acquitted Knox did not “consider all the evidence and discrepancies in testimony needed to be answered.” Knox does have the right to appeal this decision and now faces the possibility of extradition to Italy, although it is argued whether or not such action would be carried out due to the 5th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prevents a person from being tried twice on the same charge. However, for the time being, Amanda Knox’s freedom is questionable. Surely here in the US, she enjoys more freedoms than if she were in Italy, and for the time being, she remains out of prison. Still, she is at the mercy of not one, but two different judicial systems with two different sets of laws. That does not exactly sound like freedom to me.

Finally, what about those who have no connection to the legal system in the United States? How can we decide if they are free? Take for example the case of Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned in South Africa from 1964 until 1990. Certainly, it would be difficult to say that Mandela was free during those years. He was at the mercy of those who placed him in prison, and I am not familiar enough with what rights he had (if any) under the government of South Africa during that time. However, it is my belief that of the three persons discussed in this post, he achieved the ultimate freedom. He fought for what he believed in and did not give in, despite several conditional offers of release that had been made to him, according to the biography posted on the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s website. Instead, he stood by his beliefs and ultimately earned his freedom upon his release from prison in 1990. He was awarded a joint Nobel Peace Prize with President FW de Klerk in 1993 and in 1994 he became the first democratically elected President of South Africa. He chose his fate and was allowed to follow a path that he carved for himself, which most resembles freedom to me.

I believe that United States citizens are entitled to more freedoms than those who lived here in previous decades. I am most grateful for my right to pursue an education, to choose my own profession, to own property, and to vote, because they allow me to establish myself as a free and independent citizen of the United States. I remember doing mock trials in my eighth grade social studies class, in which I was a Puritan woman on trial for theft during the early days of the American colonies. However, I had not stolen money or an item from someone’s home – I had run away from my husband. It was explained by the teacher that in those times, women were considered to be property that belonged to their husbands and could be charged with stealing themselves and the clothes on their backs if they were caught trying to flee. Despite the many events that I have experienced since that day, I will always remember what it felt like not to be free, even if it was “only pretend.” That feeling motivates me to make the most of my freedoms and to choose my own fate in this world, one that will lead me down the path toward life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the way this country's forefathers intended.