I was never a good listener in my youth, but there is one thing I will always remember my grandfather said to me: knowledge is power. It meant little to me then it seemed a standard statement said often to motivate students. Only later in my teenage years did I begin to really understand. It all began with a season of teenage worries that led to a minor depression. I explained to my mother that I felt trapped and seemed to be insignificant. She then asked me what freedom was. I could not define the thing I wanted most, how ironic.
I thus began to look for definition. This was not something I could read from a dictionary. It had to be special. So I turned to philosophy and ethical sciences. There is one definition I fell in love with: freedom is ability and possibility to develop your mind, soul and body.
We are all born with the desire to advance and be better. There is nothing worse than potential not achieved. So it is not strange that we all want more and therefore find ways to be more. A large kill was how the hunters in stone-age proved their worth as today’s man has education. Freedom as I defined: ability and possibility to advance in mind, body and soul is bound inseparably with education.
I will begin with the mind which is the first resource that we are blessed with at birth. The mind from infancy has a habit to update data automatically and it is this concept education exploits. Education is all skills and information one acquires with the intention of using it to either benefit in monetary terms or self development. For those who have had to look for a job you know how much of an unfair advantage the educated or ‘over educated’ have. In one way you must recognize that, this group of educated people, are freed from poverty and fear of unemployment. People straggling under the chains of superstition, have found freedom in education and gone ahead to live happier lives.
Secondly education has saved and kept our fragile bodies away from disease both directly and indirectly. Appropriate dieting and exercise is an education sometimes undermined but has prevented a great deal of heart and weight related diseases. Apart from doctors who offer direct freedom from disease education in itself is a cure. Unexplained diseases such as hypochondria have sometimes been cured by simply educating the ignorant patient about whatever it is they imagine is making them ill.
Finally the soul, a very controversial concept, has also gained in one way or another from education. For those who believe in something they know they know the importance of choice. Blind followers to a certain belief are doomed to misinterpretations or misguidance from questionable leaders. Ignorance has never been an excuse. Education in whatever road to spiritual satisfaction will give you peace and pride to stand up for your beliefs.
Education opens ones eyes to a life that is purposeful and pleasant. With education you can deliberately be successful, unlike the incredibly lucky who win lotteries. If being in charge of your own luck is not freedom, I don’t know what is.
_____
Featured on Vijana.fm