LIBERTY and freedom are two synonymous words. But they are not the same. While liberty means freedom to live as you choose, without two many restrictions from government or authority, freedom means the right to do or say what you want without anyone stopping you.
In liberty you have freedom, but your freedom has a “bus stop.” It has a limit. It is checkmated. A feather could allow a growing son or daughter to visit friends, but will add to that a warning “you must not keep late nights. You must be at home before 6pm.” You might be allowed the liberty to attend social activities but you could also be asked to return to the house early. At each occasion, in these instances, where you hit against the instructions there is a reaction, a punishment which could be in any form. So, even if you are at liberty to exercise certain freedom, you must act within the prevailing restrictive clauses, to such liberty.
Freedom as it were creates room for or presupposes free will. Do what you like. It could be wrong or right but nobody “day watches or night watches you.” Nobody says, “Do or do not do this or that.” Thus, you are on your own, to will and to act. You can sleep outside, go to class or club, write exams or not etc, but the end justifies the means.
When a child is born, he or she relies on the guiding principles of his or her parents. At this stage, the child is at home with the obvious domestic checks. This stage features liberty and it is rightly embraced. Either freely or under what seems force or duress, depending on the approach of the parents. But at a stage in the age and growth of the child, he or she looks beyond liberty. The youth will long for freedom. He will seek an undiluted right to will a thing and carry it out the way he or she feels but parental influence becomes or tends to be a bar. Frankly, the youth does not befriend or marry this position of the particular parents, they see it as an imposition they feel that they are cheated and denied some rights they feel they are big enough to think for themselves, do those things they think without the intervention or checks of parents. Where they do not have their way, they wait for an opportunity.
The distance between desire and action is opportunity. In this wise, they have their desires that of exploiting their feelings without interruptions, that of visiting and coming back without questionings, that of making friends they want and like without any questioning as to the background or so of the intended friends, the desire to have female friends, that is if it is a male without daddy saying “stop that son, you are not ripe for such.” The desire to follow friends to party and coming back in the night without anybody raising eye-brows to such demeanors. These desires could be cut short if the opportunity never comes. Thus action is withheld, though not extending. If this premise be appropriate, it then will mean that the child will ever wait for the very opportunity, “his own day.” Today is daddy’s or mummy’s, tomorrow is his or hers.
Some parents are too “checky.” The level of circumstances in the attempt to safeguard the growth and training of their child is too high that they become over sensitive about the acts of the children. “I do not want my child to get spoilt” they say. They call it discipline, proper up bringing, they are strict, but it is necessary to watch this, for there seems much danger to it than good. At this stage the child is pieced off, he is really expectant of a loosening, an opportunity so to say and a chance just once to exercise his freedom. For this youth he is caged, he needs to be free even for once.
A youth who feels he is caged or over check mated having left home to study at the university level for instance, this time alone without daddy or mummy or any “guard” heaves a sigh of relief, “ahaa!… I have arrived.” Will mum or dad still follow me about? Do they know what I do in school? Now freedom glares at him and opportunity is there at last. What actions follow the various crowded desires since he now feels he is free at last. To discuss this, the question is what does the child or youth do with is freedom at this stage? It is a common phenomenon that a youth who has lived under a seemingly “cagy” home will be happy that he has been let loosed. This is the beginning of freedom; liberty has lapsed and given way to freedom. And the level of survival, this youth witness will depend on how he or she views and approaches his or her freedom. Where he or she has freedom and chooses to misbehave in other to retaliate or make his parents receive some pains for caging him or her then the danger will strike, and survival will be rough and almost unrealizable.
Today, many youth who found themselves in such homes as described above come to school to make evil minded friends, they smoke, drink excessively, go to clubs, attend parties, commit numerous atrocities and their dream course is jeopardized. The funny thing about these youth is that they still choose to adopt the “holier than thou” attitude at home since that is the mood their parents would want. Thus, the parents will even have a mistaken identity of their children, they do not know them, although they feel they do. At home they are very good children who cannot even kill a fly, their parents see them as the best, for the children, they know that they are not what they pretend to be.
The real gist comes up when fate strikes, it could be that they joined a cult group, and are eventually killed or traced to their houses or an attack is made in the home and it is linked to him or her that he or she is responsible. It could also be that because less attention was given to academics, he or she is withdrawn for academic failure. Then will the father know his true son or daughter.
The issue is what does a youth do with his freedom? Now, having taken to freedom and the freedom to be involved in vile ventures, will it be ideal to attack or allot blames to parents for initially being “cagy” and strict? It might not be. Indeed what was exercised was the free will which means that the child would still have been productive and positive if he or she choose so. May be the annoyance for the strict environment would have been in form of an advice from him to his parents, informing them of the existence of freedom to act in which ever way irrespective of their strict checks.
In schools today and the society at large, many persons who feel they were really caged, have freedom but they put wisdom before freedom. With wisdom, they apply their freedom, thus they go to school, without any dad or mum or any elderly influence, they freely decide to toe God’s ways, the way to achievement, fulfilled life, success in academics, better relationship with man and God.
Agreed that parental discipline and checks are necessary, parents should learn the differences between teaching a child the primary rudiments of existing in life. Brutality and unnecessary extreme strictness, the latter is not better upbringing. Introduce the child to good moral upbringing, this is what he or she needs, not checks that will inform the child at such an early age of what ought not be.
Youths should be wise. It is foolishness to feel that you have been let out of the net, so you can fly to the hottest zone, where you cannot return. It is irrational to feel you are undoing your parents or challenging them by exercising your free will negatively. Be wise! You are free to be a star; nobody on earth can stop you. You are free to be a doctor, lawyer, nurse, accountant, manager etc. You are also free to be a cultist a renowned rogue, a killer, rapist etc. No one can stop you, all could be got by freedom, your free will.
Think which way is better, such can help or deter your survival.
