What price are we willing to pay for the freedom we value?

Freedom is often understood as the right to choose, speak and live without unnecessary restriction. In his column 'From the Silence Within', Santosh Nair reflects on the less discussed side of freedom: responsibility, sacrifice and the small personal costs required to keep it meaningful.

A child was once told, “You are free to play.” He ran towards the door, then stopped. His younger sister was sitting on the floor, waiting for someone to help her tie her shoelaces. He had a choice. Nobody had ordered him to stay. He could run outside and nobody could call him wrong. Yet he sat down, tied her laces, and lost a few minutes of his playtime. Perhaps one of the earliest lessons about freedom hides in such a small moment. Freedom is not always getting to do what we want. Sometimes freedom is having the choice to do what we want, and willingly giving up a little of it for someone else. Freedom sometimes asks us to give up our own comfort.

We usually imagine freedom as the removal of restrictions. No one should control my thoughts, my voice, my choices or my life. This is precious. Human beings have struggled for centuries for such freedoms. But there is another freedom that receives less attention: freedom from being ruled by our own convenience. If I can speak but remain silent whenever speaking carries a cost, how free am I? If I believe something is wrong but look away because getting involved may disturb my peaceful evening, what exactly is controlling me? No ruler may be........

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