Happy Independence Day

As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might.”

I came across this quote today and felt it to be perfect. Freedom is not limited to having your own government. A country is essentially made up of citizens not geographical boundaries. We were lucky to be born in a country which was free in the sense that we now had the right to run our Nation, to make our own mistakes and the responsibility to fulfil our duties as citizens. For the past 63 years many people have tried to make us understand that our freedom fighters sacrificed themselves for a dream, a dream to see India shine, not suffer under the hands of others or even in the hands of her own children.

I refuse to believe that we have done justice to their sacrifices but neither am I a cynic to believe nothing can be done. We are growing as a Nation, but we all are well aware that the growth is plagued by corruption, ignorance, selfishness. I am not a very patriotic person myself, at least not in the extreme sense of the word. I love my country just as I love my home, my family; It isn’t much different, we live with people at home or in our society, with our parents, uncles, aunts, siblings, cousins, friends, colleagues. We have differences varying in nature, personal, professional, political, academic, many actually. But we function as a family all right even though there are tiffs.

The problem with our society in general is that, even though we believe that we are a free country, we limit it to just the fact that we are autonomous with respect to the world. Autonomy is not the same as freedom, in the true sense of the word, each citizen in the country should have the right to dream and the right to make it come true. Successful, happy and content individuals who want to soar make a country which is happy, content and soaring. If we cannot grow as individuals we cannot grow as a Nation. I cannot expect you to be like me, I cannot expect you to do what I tell you to and I cannot expect to rise by stepping on your freedom.

We are humans, we will be selfish, altruism is never an absolute way, but we must learn where I ends and We begins. A nation of educated, honest individuals who value the concepts of dignity, integrity and equality, and work towards converting dreams to reality without smothering another individual is a free country.


If you want a change, Bring it.
If you want a difference, Make it.
If you want an initiative, Take it.

Happy Independence Day.