freedom #FreedomTo #FreedomFrom #progress
Everyone loves freedom.
But, people view the concept differently.
Some want to have the freedom to do something.
Others want freedom from something.
Those who want freedom to do something generally are looking ahead, searching for the freedom to do something new.
Those who want freedom from something generally are looking back to a time when things that exist now either were not there, or were kept under wraps.
Generally, progress brings more freedom. It allows people to explore who they are, to interact with people who are different from them and to check out new things.
That progress can interfere with the freedoms others thought they had, and those folks want to stop progress in its tracks and go back to the way things were.
Since toothpaste cannot be put back into a tube, once progress has evolved, one cannot un-evolve it.
Those who want freedom from such progress may have to adjust how they live with it. The world generally doesn’t move backward, regardless of some people’s desires.
As individuals, we have to realize that things will change. In this world. They often change rapidly and often.
The security of the past can be shattered in an instant.
We may want to hold on to that security for as long as we live, but, chances are, something will happen to diminish or even obliterate it.
Such progress can upend what was a good life for some.
It’s not only progress that can be upending. Tragedy can do the same.
Some tragedy can be prevented or minimized. Other tragedy will come whether we are ready or not.
In decades past, progress was much slower. Tragedy was more infrequent.
People could grow and mature in a bubble that was unlikely to burst for a long time. That bred a contentment that may no longer be here for some.
What to do? If you sincerely seek freedom from progress and tragedy, and feel powerless to do anything to mitigate those things, you may want to concentrate on what you will do when the unthinkable hits.
It’s not what happens to people that is most significant. It is how they react when it happens, and how they recover from upending life circumstances.
It may take work to do so. From some things, one may never fully recover. Adaptability can be learned. Difficult change might even open doors one may never have seen.
Such events, perhaps, can turn a person who wants freedom from something into someone who wants freedom to do something.
Peter