RESPONSIBILITY AND FREEDOM

When we are children we have all the freedom and no responsibility. As we become school students and then college students our freedom seems to decrease and responsibility increase slightly. As we pass out from the college and hunt for a job the responsibility increases. On job there are deadlines which we courageously fight out and win over. There are no lifelines there, only deadlines! Then we marry (or don’t) the responsibility increases by the day. Freedom is restricted to weekends. And when we try to exercise our freedom, responsibility seems to take away the pleasure. Moreover, when there are some moments when there is no responsibility, its unfortunate that we adults cannot enjoy the freedom.

Freedom makes us light whereas responsibility puts a burden. Freedom attracts us to Himalayas and responsibility keeps us on plains. Freedom allows us to open a water tap to drink the water and responsibility enables us to close it. Freedom allows us to cover our body with clothes of our choice and responsibility takes care of how much and where we expose what. Freedom is about ‘how we want to do what we want to do’ and responsibility is about ‘how much we want to do what we want to do and don’t want to do’. Freedom is to live and responsibility is to let live. Letting lose a thought is freedom, holding back a certain action is responsibility. When we were children our parents had responsibility and we had freedom, when they become old they should have freedom and we take responsibility. Freedom belongs to mind, responsibility to heart. What food you take in your plate is your freedom, what you waste is your responsibility. Your responsibility gives you freedom to take action; your freedom gives you responsibility to prevent certain actions.

Can freedom and responsibility coexist? Or, do they contradict? Or is there an optimum point where weight of responsibility and lightness of freedom balance each other where life just “is?” I don’t have an answer, do you have it?