Free

This four-letter word is almost everyone's favorite. It has many different meanings, especially when it is attached to other words. The most popular and favorite meaning of “free” is receiving something with no obligation and without compensating anything in return. Mariam-Webster has 18 definitions for this word, and when it is added to other words as a prefix or suffix, there is a huge number of options with positive connotations, the most famous one being “freedom”, which has a slew of meanings on its own. 

 

 

The implication of this word, and what is conceptualized by it is so satisfying. It goes back to all the restrictions and limitations we have in life. In that sense, when something is provided for us which requires no actions or payback from us in order to receive it, we feel benefited.

In a world, where reply or return or respond or such reactions are expected for any actions, nothing is really for free, except for life itself. Even inception of life is as a result of certain conditions, to ensure such conditions are specifically met, for any life to begin. The reason that we are so excited about this word and what it means to us is what we are fed in a daily basis by the media (to benefit politicians and business) to naivety think that we are in control of our destiny.

Life is not granted to us for free. From the time we are born, we are attacked by a variety of diseases, hitting us in the shapes of viruses and bacteria and a wave of other diseases. We are constantly fighting back, until our bodies age and can no longer defend itself, and that is the end of life. What was mentioned is a couple of items from a large list of natural enemies. There is another set of assailants we must watch for, which are our own man-made devices, such as destructing weapons. We should always be careful to understand what we want from life and while fighting what the obstacles, natural and man-made, live our lives to fullest. Whatever this life is, it is a celebrative event, and we should cherish it and our struggle should always be in enjoy it to the fullest.

Therefore, being free from paying taxes is the least freedom we may wish for! Receiving free articles and services from vendors, whose existence is based on selling and making profit, is the easiest method to analyze the word “free”. Even when we contribute our money or time to a worldly cause, the satisfaction that we receive in return, can be considered as a return to our free contribution. As a result, and as the saying goes, there is no for free lunch, and there is a price to pay for anything. Even the person who receives our free service or article as a contribution pays a price, which is feeling small and appreciated.

How about free thinking and freedom to act in a certain way, while it does not infringe on others’ freedoms. A society is made of people with different attitudes, needs, and engagements. As long as people complete each other, instead of competing with each other, living in a society can benefit all, and equally.

We are always in search of a world better than the one we live in. Such search culminates progress, and in anther word, it is the foundation of advancements. When we realize that we need to struggle in order to achieve anything, the struggle is not back breaking but pleasurable and amusing.

Let us create a new definition for free. Free does not mean that we achieve something without struggle and a goal in mind. Free does not mean that we are given something without anything in return. Free means we are absolved of all the negative adjectives, such as competition, anger, fury, indignation, hatred, malice, phobia, and any thought or vision that removes us from a life full of exaltation and pleasure and hope for tomorrow along with joy of today.