I think, for anybody, it is the freedom that is the biggest wealth, after one’s health. No matter what earthly possessions you may possess, if you do not have the freedom you have nothing. Freedom to think well, speak good, read good, learn good, freedom to express yourself, mould yourself, and to do virtually anything good. Freedom is not a licence to do anything one wants, or pleases one, disregarding the right to similar freedom of the others. The only freedom that God has given everybody is the freedom to think, and to keep one’s thoughts within the layers of his gray cells. All other freedoms are to be granted by the Society, the Government, or the Relative Might of your Co-habitants!
As a child I have always valued my Freedom. I, more often than not, defended my freedom rather fiercely too. I felt that my father was rather tyrannical, but my feelings never deterred me from asserting my freedom to be right - to think right and do right. I believed, (and practiced when I became a parent), giving the freedom children at an appropriate age / maturity, when they started knowing the value of freedom and became capable of handling it judiciously. I do not want to, and as a self imposed rule, did not, interfere with their decisions in four choices in life: Choice of Discipline for Higher Studies, Choice of the Job and Career, Choice of Life Partner, and the Choice of Residence. I would, however, as a duty bound parent and a well wisher of my children, rationalize and counsel them as may be warranted from time to time and from issue to issue, but studiously left the decision entirely to them. They are all grown up now and have found their own stations in life. They have all become parents themselves. We all live emotionally together but spatially apart, with full independence within our own space. Despite distance, we meet often and maintain optimum emotional closeness!
I feel, my belief in the individual independence with emotional interdependence thoroughly vindicated!
