March 24, 2011. Words by Beyond The Streets. Posted under Articles / Culture / Featured Content

So often when people think and talk about bondage, chains, prisons, and oppression we view freedom through black and white lenses: you ARE free; you are NOT free. When we think about freedom this way, it more often than not becomes something that is done to someone… “I helped you get free”, “project ‘x’ brought about the rescue of…” The person who is not ‘free’ becomes someone who has ‘no voice of their own’ a victim, helpless and in need of our intervention, and our intervention brings about their freedom. Or does it?

What about if we thought about freedom in another way? What if we understood freedom to be a journey, and our only part in another person’s journey towards freedom is to encourage and enable them to make their own decisions that lead towards that freedom? Freedom is not an event that happens, you are not trapped one day and free the next. As people and organisations who care about seeing people set free it does not mean that we have no role or purpose, but maybe our role is not to be the rescuer but to be the enabler to help vulnerable, exploited, oppressed or maybe even what we would deem to be ‘free’ people to actually take steps towards true freedom.

In the words of Nelson Mandela:

“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended”. Source

This article originally appeared on the Beyond The Streets Website