Many of the answers will be their partners, parents, kids, etc., or bike, car, house, etc. I am not connected to any of these materialistic things. There is something I value more than anything in this world. It is of utmost importance to me. There is nothing I would do to compromise that.
Azaadi.. Freedom
I never take my freedom for granted. Free to live according to my own terms. Be it to live in a free country. Freedom to speak my mind, freedom to make my own decisions, freedom to choose my own mundane career path, Free to be fat; free to have my own political opinion; freedom to sit and cry for hours. Freedom to be alone; freedom to be myself.
Therapists frequently advise us to write down things for which we are grateful every day. If I had to write something down every day, that would be how grateful I am for my freedom. Nothing comes close to that.
How long do you think we are going to be free in this world anyway?
Even in this era, there are dictatorships in countries like North Korea, China, Russia, the Republic of Congo, etc. Militantly occupied countries like Afghanistan, Syria, etc. There are bans on education, restrictions on dressing, no rights, no freedom. It is hard to digest the fact that we did not learn anything from history and countries are still at war. Millions of people are dead or displaced. Soldiers are forced to fight for their respective countries. What are they fighting for if they won’t have any people left, just a piece of land? Is it more valuable than people’s lives? Without humans, what are they going to do with the land?
As Thor says, “Asgard is not a place; it’s the people.”
I know the value of freedom because I have tasted the bitterness of captivity. I had to break free from the invisible chains that the society bound me in. From childhood through my teenage years and into adulthood, I was in my mother’s prison. When I got married, I was in a man’s prison. I broke loose from those restraints and now breathe fresh air. Well, polluted air, but you get the gist.
Now I am only captivated by my mind. It takes me to places I have not been and does things I have never done. I have a bittersweet experience with my mind. It frees me sometimes, and sometimes it holds me captive in a dark place, which ends in anxiety. But I prefer to be held captive by my mind rather than by people, or robots, for that matter.
Maybe not in my era, but like the planets of the apes, our Earth is going to be ruled by artificial intelligence. It is inevitable that humans are going to fall prey to their own inventions. All the natural resources are going to be depleted, and maybe humans can find a way to create artificial resources like air, water, grass, trees, etc. I would not want to live during that period.
There is something I want to tell people who give me endless advice on how I should live my life, or about my choices.
Why be in chains when I can be free?
