All of us are born to be free. Freedom is one of the choices everyone wants for themselves. Colin Savio Coelho feels freedom is all about each one of us. We can decide how free we will be.
Freedom is the privilege we have to act as per our will with no pressure of the power of others about us. It is the ability you have to take your own decisions.
Sixty-two years ago India attained freedom. Freedom of a different kind… We were freed from colonial rulers. But freedom is of various
kinds. We are born free and we have certain freedom to act and talk.
Cliff Richard, the famous singing star, was coincidentally born in Lucknow, India to Anglo-Indian parentsin 1940. In 1948, a few years after India’s independence from Britain, his family went to live in the UK. He later wrote a beautiful song called ‘Sing a Song of Freedom’. The very touching song has a very easy appealing tune and is also has great depths on the lyrics. We must look at the song and analyze how much freedom can mean to us, both individually as well as a community.
The first verse:
As I look around me, I see the world in a different light
Everything is changing, and it happened overnight
Changing for the better and it starts with you and me
So we'll sing our song together, and forever we'll be free
We have a new world dawning every day. From one day to the other we see the same morning light dawning, but it lights up our lives differently. We look at the world differently each day. One day would be loaded with the tensions of exams while we wake up the next day relieved of exams but preparing for an assignment.
The world changes from minute-to-minute as we move along with life. While we sleep complete all our chores, like packing the bag for the next day, and sleep peacefully at night, we could be absolutely prepared for the next day. This may be the first day we have so meticulously completed our work before we hit the bed. But the change has come about. We realize that we have carried all our books to school as per requirement. There was no book left behind in the hurry! The world does change overnight and the person responsible for the change is me. All change will start with ME. If each of us things that way, we will be singing a chorus of freedom. We could initiate a freedom that will make a better world with our very personal involvement. Together we could be free from many a care, forever.
The Second Verse:
If you're looking for an answer, it’s very close at hand
Just take a look around you, and then you'll understand Clap your hands together, and let me hear the sound
It’s the time for liberation, so pass the world around
Cliff Richard has put in the solution so very simply. You don’t really have to look far for answers; it is just by you if you are willing to look. A good hard look will actually put you at ease because you are going to find answers there. The answers lie within each one of us and around us. We cannot proclaim our principle that we need to be free people even now and tell others about how they can be free, without first looking within ourselves.
We need to free our depths from unnecessary guilt. We need to free ourselves from dangerous beliefs. We need to be from pressure to think the right way.
After that, it would be time to clap your hands and celebrate. Let the whole world know you are free. Let the sound of the clapping travel the lengths of the globe and let everyone hear it. We need to announce that it is time we get liberated. We need the world to know that liberation is the need of the hour.
The Chorus:
Sing a song of freedom, everyone join in
People come together, everybody sing
Sing a song of freedom, each and every man
People come together, all across the land
Freedom is collective effort. The freedom-fighters have shown us this. They led a collective battle that gave us our much desired freedom. Everyone is welcome to join the chorus in singing the song of freedom. We need to join our hands together to fight for freedom.
The Four Freedoms
There are four points proposed as fundamental freedoms humans 'everywhere in the world' ought to enjoy: Freedom ..
Of Speech And Expression
We must be able to give our views on happenings around us without as much as a second thought. Of course, freedom also has its limitations. We cannot, for instance, throw doubts and accuse a person of some deed without having proof against it. We also cannot abuse and insult a person with filthy language aimed against his or her caste or sex.
Of religion
Our country offers us the freedom to practice any religion. Nobody can discriminate against us if we practice a certain religion. We are ensured of this security by our constitution.
From Want
On a personal level, we should be able to free ourselves from the ‘wants’ we develop from time to time. The wants can turn to dangerous proportions and can even have us do unnecessary acts to attain them. We must be in control of our wants and we should be able to match our wants with our means.
From Fear
There should never be fear in our hearts. We have shown the world the way by being totally fearless as far as the terrorist attacks are concerned. Mumbai was attacked numerous times, but the city jumped back to normal almost in no time. We have proved that we fear not these men of evil and we have made an impact.
The fight against corruption is surely a fight against fear. We are always afraid that if we do not bribe, our work will be delayed or not done at all. But we need to make one united effort to put this so called fear behind us. We need everyone to join in. We need to sing the freedom song together… Each and every one of us… Our unity cutting across caste, creed, religion and other divisive beliefs can make our freedom song more meaningful. Let’s all join together and decide that we would never encourage bribery. Do not give and do not receive. As we move on in life, we would probably find ourselves at either end. But we need to have a resolve not to fall for evil. We need to put up a united front against evils like bribery, dowry, nepotism, etc.
Can we really take up the challenge to be free? Our mother India asks us this question. What would be our answer…?
