Rediscovering Independence

Celebrating independence of some or the other sort is our nature. We celebrate it because freedom is much liked by everyone. But there is a lot we must learn from independence, and certainly there is a lot to learn from independence. India’s Independence is celebrated throughout India. The tales if Indian Independence reverberates in every Indian’s heart. But there is another Independence act which is not only more inspiring but perhaps the most influential on the face earth. It was the independence act of the United Stated of America.

Along with my classmates and Ms Vijayalaxmi I planned to commemorate the Independence Day of USA on 4^th July. It was something unusual because we never celebrated some other country’s independence. We thought that it was worth doing so since it would be an activity which would serve the audience in a completely different way. I personally felt that all those countries who were once ruled by some other country celebrate their independence to express the joy of free will. USA got its Independence more than 200 years ago and is a country which has turned out to dominate the world.

It was really an amazing feeling. We collected information which required to share with the audience and ensured that out message was clear. The main motive behind undertaking this task was to tell others how a the sense of independence changes from culture to culture and how we can learn from the American beliefs in independence.  The main challenge however what to present this information is a manner with conserved the venerability of both the Indian and the American Independence Acts. I felt it was necessary to know about how the Americans think of their independence and how Indians do. Not that any of them is better than the other since everyone is entitled to their opinion but I thought that as IB students it was our ethical responsibility to encourage others to be unbiased and free of contaminated presumptions. This however needed to be done in a way which did not vent any unwanted controversy.

In a way, we wanted to present a new perspective to look at freedom. As we discussed in our program I myself realised a lot of interesting things. We do celebrate freedom but since our thinking is at times enslaved by the geographical distribution of freedom. In addition we have become slaved to freedom itself.  It is happening in many other countries around the world and we can only eliminate it by acting locally by spreading awareness. This is what we did. I and my co-host Shradha were the main speakers of the event. We explained how independence in USA is celebrated and how they value their freedom. I tried to force the audience to think of freedom as something which doesn’t belong to USA or India but is something which every individual on earth must keep in mind and cherish. It is only when we stop being slaves to freedom will we achieve it in true sense.

Independence and freedom if believing that we are not controlled by anyone but ourselves. Leashing ourselves and unleashing our potential is what freedom should be. While conveying these thoughts to the audience I my when into and introspecting mode where I tried to analyse if I myself for the same. And after a little thought I realised where I was right and where I needed to work more. This service to others in turn served me by provoking thought and increasing my awareness about myself.