Is freedom an Illusion?

Freedom is one of the most popular words in our lexicon. We search for freedom from the cradle to the grave. Even in graveyards, the departed search for freedom, they buy burial sites away from the masses.

As soon as we are old enough to walk and talk, we start searching for freedom. Kids want to go where they are disallowed. They want to eat anything. One of the fondest memories of our childhood is freedom, from worries, responsibilities.

As we grow older, we realise freedom is an illusion. We start realising slowly that our freedom is constrained by others, yet we can’t live alone. It starts at home, where space must be shared, same with food and even love from parents.

Parents restrict our freedom to make us better people, they keep hammering to us. We dislike it, given a choice, we would prefer to disobey them to do what we think is right, have our freedom. In fact, most kids nowadays have won their freedom and can do what they want as parents watch, preferring to call that modernity.

The society does not want to interfere with kids’ freedom; they may get annoyed or hurt. If you see someone else kid doing wrong, you will ignore lest you be accused of interfering with the child’s freedom. The church further restricts our freedom with rituals and ceremonies and tells us what to do or not do in our private and public lives. The church has rules and commandments. Even cults and atheists have rules.

In school, the “assault” on our freedom continues. We find our space restricted. We share space including double decker beds. We have to share teachers’ attention. We can’t say what we want and like church and home, there are rules to follow.

Students celebrate the end of school; they see the end of restrictions and the start of freedom. Just be outside a school on the last day of KCSE. We used to light academic bonfires because we felt the books were the sources of our misery, denied us freedom. Students feel what they study is not what they enjoy.

In university, there is enhanced freedom at least in terms of movement and association which was denied in secondary school. Is separating boys and girls schools a restriction of freedom?  What of quota system?

Coded restrictions

But varsity freedom becomes an illusion in another form, your thinking is restricted. Students must think in a certain way to pass exams and get freedom to get jobs. We are trying to change that. 

At the university, we learn of the intellectual and personal freedom which was not as important earlier in life when freedom of movement was more important to us. That is why outings and visiting days are popular with students in boarding schools.

At University, new threats to our freedom emerge; some are coded and others uncoded. The coded restrictions are in statute books and have consequences like jail terms, fines or social ostracisation.

How would you feel sharing with a friend your experience in prison? African-Americans were very surprised when I told them I have never been to jail. Some thought it was a sign I was not man enough. The uncoded restriction includes peer approval and trying to keep up with the latest trends either from social media or conventional media like TV.

As we mature we are made to believe there is a trade off; the freedom we lose is gained by the society for our common good. But we realize that that some enjoy more freedom than others and freedom can be bought.

We see men and women getting anticipatory bail, in case they are arrested. The poor, hoi polloi have never heard of that. They may not even know such bonds exist. We find that freedom can be expensive too.

We long for the day we finally leave school, we celebrate through a graduation ceremony, and shout, “Freedom is coming tomorrow.”  But it becomes an illusion.

First we realise getting a job to give you money to enjoy your freedom is not easy. It used to be in 70s and earlier with graduates getting three job offers on a single day. Freedom to choose jobs and residence are the first casualties. When you get a job, you suddenly realise that freedom depends on your income. You realise is easier to travel abroad (majuu) in your dreams than in reality. Paradoxically, we seek freedom from work and drudgery yet you need to work to enjoy that freedom…

What you eat, where you eat it, who you associate depends on your income. The freedom you yearned all the years you were in school becomes an illusion. Some try to get freedom by association with peers or those perceived to have more freedom because of their money or status in society. You yearn to be like them to be free.

We later seek freedom in companionship through marriage, but often you find it curtails your freedom. You have to consult someone to make a decision. Soon children come along and restrict your freedom for another decade or so.

Less moneyed

Yet on the wedding day, they came in large numbers; did they come to celebrate your freedom or end of it?  As time passes, you notice that the freedom from ailments is going away too. The freedom everyone had admiring your youth also goes.

With personal freedom so scarce, some seek positions of leadership to enhance their freedom. They find voters, civil society and law restricts that freedom. Others seek affluence and become wealthy, but you still find freedom is an illusion. Once you get something it is no longer a motivator. That is why the less moneyed appear to have more freedom than the affluent, including freedom to be happy!

By the time middle age comes, you find that even with freedom, there are few things that excite you; freedom is not of much use. Remember the mid life crisis? By the end of our lives or after retirement when we have all the time, freedom is meaningless. We realise too late that the freedom we yearned for was there in plenty, we only looked for it in the wrong place-within ourselves not among other people.

We make our way out of this planet. Some think to give others freedom, but religion tells us to go and enjoy endless freedom. The truth might never be known.

—The writer teaches at the University of Nairobi.