Freedom

 

  

  Photo by Rowan Heuvel on Unsplash

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.” Charlotte Bronte ('Jane Eyre')

"Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt, that you can set upon the freedom of my mind." Virginia Woolf ('A Room of One's Own')

'No person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” Alice Walker

“A political struggle that does not have women at the heart of it, above it, below it, and within it is no struggle at all.” Arundhati Roy

“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” Malala Yousafza

"The search for human freedom can never be complete without freedom for women." Betty Ford

"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own."
Audre Lorde 

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill/of things unknown but longed for still/and his tune is heard on the distant hill/for the caged birds sings of freedom.” Maya Angelou

Freedom has been on my mind today. This morning's news from Afghanistan, on Radio 4, saddened me. I paused to think about all those people, especially women, whose relatively new-found freedom is being threatened. Then I went about my business of the day: driving, swimming, meeting a friend, enjoying lunch with my daughter and grandchildren, shopping, chatting over a coffee with my cousin, cooking, reading, gardening and using the Internet and social media. I was free to do them all. I could think, say and do whatever I wanted, without fear of harassment, intimidation or imprisonment.

That's been the case all my life. I've been privileged to have a good education, to train for, and do, the jobs I've wanted and loved, to associate with anyone I please and, generally, to be the person I want to be.

I do not take this freedom for granted and am grateful, every day, for the opportunities it brings me.  

Writing prompt:

•  Read (above) what some women have had to say about freedom. Perhaps click on the links to find out more about their lives. Then write for seven minutes, without stopping, in response to one of the quotes.
• Make a list of all the things you have been free to do today. Now imagine not having had that freedom and write about how your day would have been.
• What freedoms have you been most grateful for in your life? Write about them.
• What, if anything, have you not been free to do? How has this impacted on your life?  Set a timer and write for a few minutes.