Freedom: A Delightful Paradox

 

Freedom is a remarkable gift, yet one that often arrives wrapped in complexity. Ask the French in 1789, the Americans in 1776, or the Indians circa 1947…they all discovered, often with considerable chaos, that freedom is never simple. It must be nurtured, guided, and cherished.

Having lived across India, the UK, and the US, I’ve learned that freedom wears many costumes. In India, it strolls like Gandhi through dusty streets, peaceful yet unyielding, insisting on justice with the patience of a saint and occasionally honks its horn like a driver insisting on the right of way. In the UK, freedom is a proper guest; polite, reflective, occasionally quoting Shakespeare or Austen, and never overstaying its welcome. In the US, freedom bursts in like Huck Finn on the Mississippi…loud, confident, and ready for adventure, but sometimes forgetting the wisdom of restraint.

Catholic teaching reminds us that freedom is not the ability to do anything, but the ability to choose the good. As St. John Paul II said, it is a “gift and a vocation.” Too often, we treat freedom like a kite cut from its string…beautiful, but doomed to crash. Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ shows that freedom without love can turn revolutionary zeal into tragedy. Tolstoy, ever the moralist, reminds us that true freedom is exercised in harmony with conscience, heart, and community. Oscar Wilde, of course, would raise a brow and wink; freedom without a sense of humour is simply unbearable.

Living across continents has taught me that freedom is relational. In India, I learned to value collective freedom…how your liberty should not trample another’s. In the UK, I saw how civil liberties thrive when tempered with respect and history. In the US, I observed the sheer joy of personal freedom, but also how easily it can turn into isolation if one forgets community. Freedom without connection is just an empty hall echoing one’s own voice.

Yet freedom carries a paradox. Misunderstood, it can imprison us. When “I can” outweighs “I should,” liberty morphs into indulgence, ego, or chaos. One can be entirely “free” yet entirely lost.

So how should we engage this gift of freedom? We embrace it fully, with laughter and curiosity. We learn from history, quote literature, and recognize that freedom, like any unruly friend, requires both respect and patience. We allow it to challenge us, to delight us, and to inspire us; but never to blind us to responsibility, connection, or compassion.

From the bustling streets of Chennai to London’s polite debates, and from Washington, D.C.’s awe-inspiring historical monuments to the quiet corners of libraries and cafés, freedom shines brightest when it liberates hearts, sharpens minds, and keeps us dancing; even if slightly offbeat, often improvised, and always wonderfully human.

After all, freedom is at its best when it is lived fully, loved wisely, and laughed at frequently. And perhaps that, after all, is the greatest adventure of all.