What would you be willing to do for freedom? Celebrating April in our time ( ENSINUS ETP/INETE)

 What would you be willing to do for freedom?

 “Not pleasure, not glory, not power: freedom only freedom” Fernando Pessoa.

Freedom, a word with constancy to describe the world, people and our society. The month of April carries 

with it a reflective part on the issue of freedom, how are we in relation to it today? Do you know what 

freedom is? “Condition of one who is free. It is a concept that takes on a great variety of meanings among 

the different authors who have dealt with the subject”.

Freedom can be seen in many ways, being physically or mentally. Freedom of expression is everything we 

absorb from information and create our own opinion from it, we are free to think, idealize and believe in 

everything that adds to our interest. While there is a point in favor of freedom to believe and create our 

own opinions, aren’t we just adopting others’ point of view? And putting them as our freedom? Lately, 

people share the same opinion on the subject, not having other different opinions, different ideas along 

with different concepts, so we have two different realities. The first one has a good appearance because 

everyone shares the same ideas, while the second one shares na opposite reality, making everyone with the 

same “head” a disappointment.

 “A thing is said to be free that exists solely by the necessity of its nature and that by itself is determined to 

act” Spinoza. The great Spinoza presupposes an idea of freedom in which only he who acts from his own 

nature is free, reinforcing that we are only totally free when we let our concept be the only one over all. 

What would you be able to do for your freedom? Would you fight? Would you share na idea you don’t 

defend? What not practice?

In the environment we live in, it’s not difficult to have freedom, because where we go we  have the right to 

it, but is it respected? The freedom that is lacking is the respect that we must share with so many different 

opinions. Where is this freedom? If for it we need a critical sense and respect for a different opinion. Do 

we have? Can we count on respect for freedom?. 

As stated above, we are creating our own freedom from the opinions of others. We are moved by influence 

and by Public Bodies that discuss the “good of society”. This gives all of us, as  citizens, the 

right to analyze whether we are totally free or manipulated. As a reflexive way, I  leave the 

questions open, in which we can reflect on where we are placing our values regarding this much discussed 

topic.

Emilly Lima, TG21