FREEDOM - IS IT A MYTH?

https://rubisred.blogspot.com/2019/01/freedom-is-it-myth.html

RAHAF MOHAMMED

FREEDOM
 
Heavy subject.  We cry for freedom, we demand freedom, we move continents for freedom.  But do we really  have it?

Governed by our customs, traditions, morality and religious faiths, freedom  is  a myth.

Guidelines are controlled by constitutions, law,  religious sects,  parental supervision,  and morality.  Among a long list, I'll touch on a few;  female equality,   LGBT,  criticism of  leaders and royalty. 

From a child, being the youngest of five, the rules I had to abide by were suffocating.   Growing older, female equality was just a reach too far.  As a heterosexual  living happily along conventional rules, I feel for those that yearn  and yet are denied  happiness to legalize same sex marriage.  In certain countries, criticism of ruling governments or royalty seeks punishment of jail time taking away the freedom of speech to be controlled in a confined space for decades.

The life choices I made, stems from touching on the first controlling factor in life; religion.   Growing up in a strict Theravada Buddhist household; no matter where we lived, the family altar with many significant Buddha images, grandparents bones, relics and the joss sticks lit  three times a day were indications that only faith would bring good karma.

Imagine that small altar room in Kensington in such contrast with London's swinging sixties.  The inconsistency  for a young girl to sing hymns at the local school and attend a Protestant Church of England to come back every afternoon to the Buddha room wafting of incense smoke.    

Six years into daily swapping C of E and Buddhism, it was time for my parents  to move  the family Buddha altar to an Islamic country.  

I was enrolled into a Pakistan strict private Catholic school, and learnt to dip my fingers into holy water and make the sign of a cross, and absorb Catechism  taught by Pakistani nuns.   Not long into the Virgin Mary, and Jesus's disciples; in their effort to broaden my horizons, I was sent to the sister Muslim school and forced fed  Allahu Akbar five times a day; dabbling in Shia and Sunni and enlightened with Parsi worshipping fire.

All of that pressure served me well for I am now an atheist.

I married outside my tribe and besides love, the doors of freedom  allowed me to have a voice, choice, and finally, solid in my views, an adult with a real core self belief.  

So why do I say Freedom is a myth?

To really be free, is to live without social, traditional customs.   But we humans tend to over step the rules if allowed that freedom. 


Rahaf Mohammed رهف محمد‏ @rahaf84427714 20h20 hours ago

Don’t let anyone break your wings, you’re free. fight and get your RIGHTS!

1,026 replies 2,316 retweets 7,691 likes

From a less brave girl to an even braver girl Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun,  I wish you constraints of another kind in the western world, dominated by rules and regulations; yet it would allow you to try lesbianism, eat bacon, ride the waves of Bondi beach in a bikini and pursue your dreams in the wildest way possible. 

May this be the best decision you ever made.