Freedom From, Freedom Of..

Who are our enemies? Not our neighbors and those who are different from us in faith or ethnicity. The enemy is within us.We need to learn how to relate to people, especially family, society and nation in a positive way. So more than any perceived external threat to freedom, the actual danger is from deep within, where we are shackled by our own rigid beliefs and prejudices.We need to fill ourselves with positive values and include these in school and college ccurriculum to respect religious, cultural and ethnical diversity. There are two types of freedom — freedom of and freedom from. There is freedom of speech,religion, belief, and expression, for example. There is also freedom from hunger, disease,poverty,corruption,illiteracy and unemployment.Sometimes these freedoms tend to be in conflict with each other and we need to find a balance. We need self-discipline to resist negative influences and act in positive ways.

Any religion’s main concern is to inspire positive goals,which enable people to interact with others in a positive way and to help bring about justice, peace, harmony and prosperity to all segments of society. We need both freedom of and freedom from.We have to learn how to mix them in correct measure so that freedom of does not become completely selfish and freedom from does not become completely politicised. Totalitarianism and only religion can fill up the value gap in our society.Religion and democracy must always both work together. Religious e x t r e m i s m threatens the fabric of human civilisation. It is a disgrace to religion and a desecration of God’s name.A vibrant and free society is characterised by rights and responsibilities through complaints and compliance by responsive leadership. As people develop a more sophisticated understanding of freedom, they move beyond complaining and demanding.They start to realise that they must themselves assume responsibility to make things better. Each person needs to do his share. True freedom must entail a sense of empowerment,motivating each person to exert to resolve problems of self,family

,community and society as a whole.

To solve problems or get oneself heard, violence is not the answer. Democracy entails dialogue and discussion, so that all points of view get heard and through due process, justice is done.If the youth feel outraged about certain issues, let us hope and pray that they will not have to turn to violence in order to fill the emptiness that they feel and to fulfil their aspirations but that they will learn that the emptiness within can be filled by their practising basic human values, values which will stress self-improvement and finding remedies for social inequities while not destroying democratic freedom