THE BONDAGE OF FREEDOM

For the past few weeks, the focus has been on Nelson Mandela. He is credited for the significant role he played in securing freedom for many South African citizens. All of his efforts paid off when he was released from prison and made President but that is not the end of the story because freedom for South Africa brought about a bondage of enormous responsibilities for him because what Mandela is celebrated for today is not what he did be.

I remember watching a movie and part of it was about a man that spent most of his adult life in prison and all he dreamt of was freedom and finally, he got released and discovered that life outside the prison walls was a thing of horror. In prison, the only persons he had to be bothered about were the wardens but outside of it, was the tax collector, the employer, the landlord, the doctor and non-existent family members to mention a few. To put himself out of this misery, he committed suicide.

I also remember growing up and all I wanted to do was to know how to drive. I got so obsessed with the idea of driving that I watched in awe as my dad drove. I mastered all the movements of his hand and his legs, eventually, I was permitted to go to driving school, passed and got my driving permit and finally I was glad at the idea that I could drive but before I could celebrate this freedom, I discovered the bondage of Lagos traffic where it could take 1 hour to cover a distance of 100 meters and I just can’t abandon the car and take a walk to my destination.

The fact that countries have fought for and gained independence only to discover they could not bear the burden of infrastructural and economic development is evidence that along with freedom comes the bondage of responsibility. This implies that it is not enough to work hard to achieve our freedom; we even need to work harder to live up to the responsibility of freedom.

Nelson Mandela came out of prison knowing that he was free but still, he had to be responsible being President did not give him the right to dehumanize a fellow human being even when he was dehumanized by fellow human beings. His acts of responsibility made him one of the greatest leaders the world has produced till date. 

Freedom does not make you truly free, it makes you truly responsible. You have the freedom of speech but it does not give you the right to hurt people with the words from your mouth, you have freedom of movement but your movement should not hinder others, your freedom to buy a gun does no give you the right to kill at will, our wealth should not be used to dehumanize the poor, our strength should not be used to dehumanized the weak, our knowledge should not be used to dehumanize the ignorant.

Freedom gives Power and if there was anything I learnt from Spider man, it’s that “with great power comes great responsibility” therefore, with great freedom comes great the great bondage of responsibility.

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