The Price of Freedoom

By: Ayaan Baqai 6/26/2024 (5 minute read)

The Price of Freedom is defined as the doctrine in which we have to bear one another's burdens whether we will or not. We have to make personal sacrifices for the common good. We cannot have what is good unless we pay the price. Unless the people struggle to help themselves, no one else will or can help them.

Freedom - I often wondered out loud whether we, as Americans, should fight harder to get back to the principles that established our colonies to begin with, and be inspired to persevere to be our own country. If we, Americans, value Freedom, do we apply Freedom uniformly across all demographics that exist within our society today, or is it only limited to the constituents that live within the United States? Is Freedom to express one’s view permitted, even if the same actions suppress the Freedom of someone else within our great democracy? If we were to put limits on one’s Freedom to protect the diverse population that exists within the US today, does that violate the terms of another Amendment, which clearly states that the “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitutions, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people?”

Is freedom truly a tangible concept once can be achieved, or is it a societal value we’ve all been propagated to desire? There’s no doubt about it that freedom, in itself, is a cultural praise. We’ve had leaders- Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Malala Yousafzai, who all advocated for the contemporary rights we have now, but what remains of their imprint, is the question of whether or not acquiring freedom, strips freedom from others.