Be Free

“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” William Faulkner

Freedom is about liberty, equality, respectfulness and justice, anywhere in the world. Independence day seems to be a perfect opportunity to think about this principles, not only as abstract ideas, but especially as actual practices, and to reflect the extent to which society put these principles into action. The main argument of this essay is that human being is free by nature, but over the time, human kind lost this status, inserting themselves in a constant search of freedom. But the good news is that, as long as we had the ability of rezoning, we will have the opportunity to practice freedom, and no just claim for it.

Based on this general premise, the description of Argentina´s freedom history should consider their advances and backward movements through the time: the institution of the first patriotic government in 1810, the proclamation of the independence in 1816, the creation of the first national constitution in 1853, universal, secrete and obligatory suffrage in 1912 and the incorporation of women in politics in 1949 to mention only some of the main milestones. Nevertheless, in Argentina, conquer of civil, political and social rights were necessary but not sufficient for the recovery of our natural freedom. This is because despite of this conquers or achievements, Argentineans had to support also several dictatorships, abuse of power and disrespectfulness of minorities, to mention only some actions against freedom.

I am convinced that freedom is a two ways path; it is important the recognition of people´s freedom, but it is also important the exercise of that freedom as a common practice. Otherwise, there always will exist oppressed and oppressors, there always will exist the opportunity to put into risk our freedom, just because we are expecting for a recognition instead of being just free. My home country is free and respects freedom of expression, thinking, joining, but I am always afraid of how vulnerable we are faced to a threat to our rights.

As President Eisenhower said, “freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die”. I believe in people from my country and their ability to earn and refresh freedom every day. We should keep on working on it.