Freedom of Choice. Freedom to be responsible.

This started out as a thought to post on social media, but I thought it worth exploring a little further, so here’s the story:

Last week (mid-March 2020), due to the spread of coronavirus in South Africa, I pretty much self-isolated. It was my choice. Today, it's not my choice. I know it's the right decision the government made, but my freedom of choice has been taken. South Africa is in lockdown. Same physical situation, but different. I woke up this morning feeling a bit trapped. Last week I had known that self-isolation was the right thing to do, however, this was now no longer a doing of my own free will. I had been robbed, to some degree, of my freedom. It is not a nice feeling. I also know that we are adaptable, so I will manage. I don’t think, however, this is something I should want to get used to. It is very easy to become trapped with a “slave mentality” as we find new comforts in our circumstances.

Freedom of choice is so important to us. Autonomy and independence gives us the room to be creative and it contributes to our over-all optimal performance as individuals and as a collective. But what this also shows, is that if we don't make the right choices, we will eventually have to make more difficult choices and some will could be made for us. Choice is personal power. There is a famous quote from Spiderman: "with great power comes great responsibility" from the scene where Peter Parker's uncle, Ben dies. Have we been responsible with what’s in our powers? Take the tough road, face your fears and make the difficult choices if they are the right ones. That is heroism.

Perhaps we have made bad choices as human beings and the universe is taking away our freedom of choice. Perhaps, we have made bad choices as citizens about coping with this pandemic, and the government has taken away our freedom of choice. We are like badly behaved children who need to learn a lesson. When we have learned that lesson, we can come out of our rooms. If we don’t learn the lesson, we could get punished again. Whatever the case may be, with our power of freedom of choice, comes great responsibility. How do you choose to be responsible to yourself and to others, to protect your freedom? Do we offer the same privilege to others, of what we want for ourselves? That’s what “love thy neighbour” means. The protection we want for ourselves, we should offer to others. We must all be superheroes, from today and for the future. This is mutual respect. This is love.

In conclusion, while we are limited in our movement right now, think of what choices you still have. Appreciate them and make them responsibly. Sometimes those choices are very difficult, but often the alternative to making seemingly easy choices, that are immediately gratifying, can result in our loss of freedom and autonomy.

Consider others to consider yourself. Humanity is a collective and we depend on each other for us to survive. #inthistogether #weareinthistogether #responsibility #priorities #choices #freedom #grateful #performance