Friday, March 13, 2009

Freedom to Pursue Happiness

I saw this quote in one of the walls in Royal Museum of Scotland and thought that it was good. It is written:-


"For we fight not for glory, nor riches, nor honour, but for freedom alone, which no good man gives up except with his life."

No, no, no, I am not advocating wars. To me, freedom is not restricted to the kind of freedom deemed by the Scottish heroes like William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. While I saw this, what sprang to my mind was the freedom to pursue happiness, first conceived by Thomas Jefferson.





When I saw the writings on the wall, I thought of the many saddening statistics of the world poverty. There and then I remembered very vividly of a scene I saw in BBC channel. The scene of a Zimbabwean child that was rotting BUT still alive. I saw the flies that fly around his body, especially in area of the sores and wounds. I saw the despair and hopelessness in his eyes.

What is life to those who live under the poverty line? Can they choose what they would like to be in the future while they don't even know if they can live till tomorrow? Can they choose to pursue happiness in their own way? Or their lives have been destined to short and deprived? Although they are not chained nor imprison, are they really free? 

I don't think so, what about you?