Freedom is scary!

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

- Mohatma Ghandi

Ghandi had it right, if we are to live in freedom we must all act as free people. I do not think it is possible to legislate utopia, from everything I’ve seen it usually backfires. Peace and freedom are up to us as individuals and cannot be reached by blind belief in the government. The state is always looking to expand its power, by trying to use it to control others or to take care of you, you put yourself in its sights. The complement to freedom is responsibility, if you give up responsibility over your own life in the hope that you will be provided for by your representatives, you will lose your rights to them in exchange. In some ways liberty is like walking the high wire without a net, it is risky and it takes knowledge and self discipline. This is what scares people about freedom, that they will be held responsible for their own welfare. You can have liberty or you can have security, but you can’t have them both at once. Centralized organization may give you a sense of security, but is it worth its cost?

A thoughtful essay by Jessica Pacholski.