Freedom: The Power to Choose What You Want to Do

The paper is an interview analysis on the concept of freedom. The paper will first focus on the summary of the interview and present the interview data held with Kerri. The second part of the paper will entail the analysis based on various literature related to the concept of freedom. Lastly, the paper will conclude with art that is related to the idea of freedom. 

Interview data 

Parents 

Kerri’s father was the most prominent sales person in the telecommunications industry, where she commandeered the largest telecommunications sale in history, close to a billion dollars. Her mother began as a housewife, but also continued her education in sciences as she was growing up until she got into medical school when she started her freshman year in high school. They later graduated at the same time and currently she practices psychiatrist in California. His father graduated college while the mother completed medical school. Kerris’ parents experienced numerous obstacles in being free. According to Kerri, freedom carries with it great choices, but also contains a lot of responsibility, and probably has some unexpected consequences. 

Further, her father worked long hours to pursue his career to the fullest, which caused lots of friction in her parents’ marriage. Her mother had her challenges in being a parent of a teenager while she was in medical school. According to her, she believes that her parents were free to do as they pleased, but circumstances like freedom and pursuing one’s dreams are often idealized. Kerri has one sibling, sister, and three and a half years younger than her being the oldest at age 48 years. Her sister graduated with her bachelor degree in biology; however, she is currently disabled. 

Education 

Kerri graduated with my degree in Chinese and English in the year 1991 and received her graduate degree in mental health counselling in 2011. 

Career/Job 

Currently, Kerri is a counselor she hopes to be a part of a nonprofit organisation in which she held an executive position, but she is also in the middle of changing careers. She is further growing her career as a literary agent and author while working as an editor in a literary magazine besides building her career in that vein as well. 

Previously, she held jobs in various capacities. Upon graduating from college, she wanted to work for Scholastic, but the interview did not go well thus she used her Chinese language skills to obtain jobs in import/export for a while until they hit a recession. She also began business in home and office cleaning which gave her a lifetime of lessons in organisation, self-discipline, and management. However, she hurt her back and could no longer keep up with the physical demands of her business, so she closed it and pursued office work. First, she used to work for a company that helped companies ship their goods via intermodal, which is a specialized delivery service for the trains. 

Further, she managed accounts and worked with the sales department to grow accounts then used to work for a dental supply company to help them with decreasing their costs for shipping their supplies for dentists around the country. In between the two transportation jobs, she obtained a job as a junior counselor for a little while in a methadone clinic where they treated people addicted to heroin. It was the most difficult task she had, but she loved helping people. 

After she was laid off from the dental supply company, she was pregnant, so she stayed home taking care of her first child. Then she took odd jobs when her son got older to earn a bit of money. But, the most enriching jobs that she took on were for editing. Her husband was pursuing his degree in psychology, so she decided to go to school for that also, but her dream was to be in the publishing industry. The Internet has made it easier for her to conduct her business anywhere. 

Age 

Currently, Kerri is forty-eight years of age. 

Defining Freedom 

Kerri believes that she can define herself on her terms, she can change what she want about herself and define the roles she is going to fulfill in her life. In growing up with her parents’ generation, communism was spreading, and it was a great fear they possessed that they would try and take over the capitalist system. In the communist system, they learned that people do what they are told to do for the good of the state. When she learned this in school, and through her reading, she was able to appreciate the fact that she was able to choose her career. Some people in the world are not as lucky. 

Ever since she was little, her parents had a set of expectations. They wanted her to go into corporate, and she did for a while. Obtaining her education in psychology gave her a piece of something else she wanted: to go to school and earn a 4.0 in her program, plus have a graduate degree. But, she realised that these were the things she thought she might be able to do and be, but it was not a full actualization of her dreams. It was difficult, and it has been difficult, but she recently switched her career to pursue and live out her dream to be a writer and author. She appreciate the fact that she has had the freedom to define how she was going to do this on her terms, without a dictator telling her that she could not and without laws preventing her from doing so. 

Kerri believes that her parents were very restrictive because they tried to control her for everything she did and actively discouraged her writing career. She broke off her relations with them and have been free to pursue her life as she sees fit. She further believes that this also has to do with her controlling parents, but her mother’s family has a background as well that helps her appreciate this, as well as considering the life situation of people around the world. Her maternal grandmother’s family was Jewish, and before Hitler overran Hungary, they suffered a lot of anti-Jewish laws that restricted their freedom, education, earnings, and other aspects of their lives. Everything about her knowledge and education, family’s background, helps her appreciate that she can pursue her dreams unfettered with unfair laws that violate her human rights and a government that dictates what she must do. 

Reflective Questions 

As someone living in the US, culture helped her to be free. She stated that independence and the individual are prized in the US. Therefore, she has been able to live a life where she would not have to worry about issues such as wrongful imprisonment, forced into performing a career she hates and being subjected to discrimination. Kerri feels that the government system in the US has not hindered her freedom. She believes that socially, at times, her freedom was restricted by her parents. Also, she feels that when she subscribed to their way of thinking, she did nothing but limit her pursuit of happiness and her dreams. It took her a long time to overcome their denials to pursue her dreams and to begin living her life freely. 

Kerri feels that even today, gender matters. While women are equal in the eyes of the law, there is still an earnings disparity between women and men. Further, presently she lives in the south, and she does feel the attitudes towards women there. She is a Caucasian/European descent, and she does not feel hindrance because of this. She always comes off as professional and educated, so she does not feel that her looks have ever held her back. She is European descent; therefore, she does not feel hindrance because of this. Further, she does not get involved with politics or political discussions, although she will say something when human rights are violated. Kerri is a spiritualist, leaning towards Christian and Buddhist beliefs and she often finds it difficult to relate to others sometimes where their worldview is a bit limited but other than that, she does not feel restricted because of her religious beliefs. She has a graduate degree (Masters of Science) therefore; she does not feel constrained regarding this area. She would most likely go back to school to earn a doctorate in an English-related field of study, but at this moment, she is restricted financially and time-wise from doing so. 

One of the factors beyond her control that might have influenced her freedom is her husband condition. Her husband’s disability has restricted her in the past from working full-time away from home. His physical disability has also left her with most of the responsibility of running the household, which is time-consuming in addition to getting her two careers off the ground. Two factors within Kerri’s control that have influenced how much freedom she have included her parents’ restrictive atmosphere and expectations and her husband’s physical disability. Activities that seem to give her life meaning are spending time with her family, writing, and helping others. Challenges that she has faced in trying to be free include: working to relieve the artificially-placed constraints that her parents instilled in her to be truly free to pursue what she want. One of the factors that she would have changed about how she sought freedom would be to believe in herself and her abilities a lot sooner. However, she is happy to say that this is something that she is correcting, so her children will not have the same self-doubts fettering their personal freedoms to be who they want to be and do what they want to do. 

Analysis 

Perspectives from the Freire reading 

Oppression is the first step towards the destruction of individual freedom. Therefore, one should ensure that he or she do all within their abilities to liberate themselves from any form of oppression. According to Freire, fear of freedom by an oppressed might lead them into adopting the oppressor’s behaviour or even subject an individual to the oppressed position (Freire, 2000). In his analysis, Paulo Freire explores the concept of oppression and liberation’s foundation. 

The Oppressor Consciousness 

The first feature is related to the notion that, to be is to have: the Necessity of conquest According to Freire, the oppressor consciousness, equates its fundamental aspect of ‘being’ with ‘having’ and being the ‘haves’ class. It is believed to crave to possess and at the same time dominate the entire world with everything in it including things and people. In such unreserved insatiability to acquire more, it ends up reducing life for both animals and plants (Freire, 2000). Evidently, such a “necrophilic obsession to have” in most instances blinds man to the idea that if ‘being’ and ‘having’ are equal then those individuals believed to be deprived and pillaged are often condensed to the no-beings. Any form of questioning of that which is considered his inalienable right is interpreted as a greater threat to their being that makes them aggressive and fearful. As a result of the fear of possible direct altercation in addition to his eagerness of a peaceful life, he had designed a detailed approach aimed at keeping the exploited under control. He goes further to establish a myth where he attempts to present the world of oppressiveness to the oppressed as a given- a fixed entity that they should passively accept and also adapt to. 

The second feature is related to the idea that in the division of the oppressors is where the oppressor’s possession lies. The majority of the oppressors are the minorities, and it becomes essential for them to keep the oppressed isolated. Further, the oppressors ensure that they do not allow the oppressed to point out or view the problems that tend to afflict them in entirety but in fragments. There are also instances where they promote a leader from among these oppressed groups to ensure that they remain in power and dominate them (Freire, 2000). However, because this is with dual loyalties, he turns out to be a stranger to his community that results in higher levels of divisions among the oppressed. To set themselves free from oppression the oppressors should combine efforts and work as the team to fight for their freedom. 

The third feature is related to the aspect of the use of manipulation by the oppressors to divide the oppressors and deny their freedom. The moment the oppressed becomes aware of the elaborate myths and at the same time can no longer be suppressed; oppressors sort other new approaches of manipulation to ensure that they remain in control. According to Freire, a primary tactic is presenting themselves as a reliable model among the oppressed with an aim to have higher possibilities to progress hence inoculating them “with a concept of bourgeois appetite for the personal success” (Freire, 2000). The other form of tactic employed is related to the welfare programs that tend to distract the members of the oppressed from the actual causes and solutions for all their problems. 

The Oppressed Consciousness 

According to Freire, he believed that manipulation, subjugation and even exploitation had significantly scarred the oppressed consciousness and further affected the way they view the world of the oppressed and their way of thinking. The following are the primary characteristics of the abused to understand and design the pedagogy of the oppressed. 

The first feature is the duality of the oppressed. Often, the oppressed are characterised by an aspect of duality that “establish itself in an innermost being’ (Freire, 2000). Irrespective of the deep weight of oppression, their souls continue to militate against the un-freedom that they tend to find themselves caged in. Further, as a result of many years of subjugation, the oppressed are forced to internalize the oppressor’s image. In such an instance, the oppressor is transformed into a model of humanity for the oppressed. Further, they are also toned between their inherent need to liberate themselves and their overall desires to mould themselves in a cast crafted by their oppressors and identify with them. 

The second feature is the aspect of immersion of the oppressed into their environment. The oppressed often face a challenge of submersion of consciousness in a harsh reality in the struggle to liberate themselves. In most instances, the oppressed are engulfed and trapped by their immediate context hence making it difficult for them to see their overall existence in the totality of space and time. They are not in a position to perceive an aspect of the larger order that has been established by their oppressors to keep them strongly entrapped. The oppressed view their current conditions as a given in addition to being a reality that can never be changed. On the other hand, the oppressors are seen as magical besides being an invincible being. All these aspects result into rationalization, fatalism and even submission (Leoni, 2012). 

Lastly, is the concept of self-depreciation and the fear of freedom and risk. According to Freire, (2000), oppressors have been reported to continuously live in a dehumanized state that tends to make them doubt any aspect of capability within them. Since their rights are often curbed, and freedom snatched while their culture invaded, their oppressors’ further emphasises that they are good for nothing which gradually becomes their belief concerning themselves. Based on this, the individual has failed to liberate themselves since they are made to believe that they can never be successful and their condition was destined to be as it is. 

Perspectives from the Bauman reading 

In a society where individuals are expected to conform to the masses, upholding individuality becomes a challenging task. According to Zygmunt (2001), while individuality is highly respected, attempting to be like the other person will make you lose the vital sight of who you are. Individual’s characteristics tend to initiate a change and further drive the society. 

Identity can help solve issues of injustice and inequality 

The first feature is that issues revolving around the concept of equality and justice are often developed through the idea of recognition and culture debated on the aspects of categorical variation, individuals, hybridity and even creolization (Zygmunt, 2001). On the other hand, a political process is theorized around human right issues and the life policies such as assertion and identity construction and claim. When individual identify who they are and their social position in the society, then they are in a better position to stand up and fight for their rights and justice. 

The second aspect is that people fail to realise what they have (such as identity and freedom) and only become aware after it has been lost. It is believed that a good lighting is a real blindness among the majority of people. Based on this argument, an individual is considered to fail to recognize what seems to be obvious meaning that people often do not see what is always there rather; they notice them when they have disappeared (Zygmunt, 2001). We all have our aspects of freedom but fail to make use of them until it is too late. Therefore, individual fails to see the importance of their freedom until a time when it has been taken from them, or the importance of the freedom has been lost. It might be the case that some people should be forced for them to be free as suspected by Rousseau. Maybe the recently acquired form of freedom should be employed for the people rather than by the people. In addition to this, maybe some people still need the despot who might be highly resolute and efficient who would be able to design and fix the reason-dictated forms that arguably would guarantee that individuals would make the right type of and proper utilisation of their overall freedom. 

Thirdly, fear, despair, hope and even anxiety are all believed to be born together. However, the proportions in the manner in which they are mixed substantially depend on some resources that are in an individual’s possession (Zygmunt, 2001). We are all endowed with a faculty of reason which is one of the most powerful tools that allows individual to compare various options that are available on offer and then make our personal choices. However, if we take advantage of that specific tool in the most suitable way, we will be able to arrive at a particular conclusion and thus will be able to accept a single code of cohabitation which often reason tells us is the most suitable (Hampshire, 2000). 

Individualization can help bring about freedom 

Individualization has been argued to entail an aspect that transforms the human identity from a ‘given’ into a ‘task’ while at the same time charge the actor with an utmost responsibility to perform a given task. 

The first feature that can be analyzed in this perspective is that the desire and need to be what an individual is currently is one of the most critical features of the modern day living. Arguably, it is not only the people who seem to be on the move but also all the finishing lines of the tracks that they appear to run in addition to the running tracks themselves (Zygmunt, 2001). One of the major issues that continue to torment individuals is not necessarily how to acquire their identities of their choices and be recognized by the public. However, the type of character that they should choose and how to ensure that they keep vigilant to take up another choice in case the current one is withdrawn from the market. 

Secondly, the grip on the present, the self-assurance of being in overall control of an individual’s destiny is what exactly women and men in our society most conspicuous lack. Less and less individual believe that by joining forces and at the same time stand arm in arm they might effectively change the rules of the games(Zygmunt, 2001). People’s dependency levels have become truly global, but their actions have continued to remain local. To ensure that people are liberated, there is the need to collaborate and work as a team towards fighting for individual rights and liberation. 

Thirdly, the concept ‘never’ had become a common word that the community had adopted and used haphazardly and blankly than in the past decades when societies within the sociological sense became a difficult factor to find in the real life situation (Hampshire, 2000). Individuality has further been argued to be a critical factor in maintaining one’s identity as part of leadership. Therefore, the frenzied investigation for a whole identity is not a filtrate of the pre-globalization period those are yet to be completely extirpated but meant to vanish as the aspect of globalization progress. On the contrary, it is considered as the overall side effect in addition to the by-product of the amalgamation of globalizing and individualizing pressure and the tension that they produce (Zygmunt, 2001). It only takes an inventive philosopher to say their view, build up a promising argument and at the same time attract interested followers to initiate positive change. The society is going to change forever, therefore, moving forward and seek new grounds and these can be firmly attributed to individuality that has been shown to provide fuel to a societal fire. 

Living a healthy, happy and socially conscious life 

Different factors could contribute towards a person living a healthy life, happy and socially conscious life. 

Be More Social 

When an individual becomes highly social then he or she stands a better chance to live a healthy, happy and socially conscious life. To achieve this, an individual must first reach out and create contacts with other people. Studies have shown that when an individual gets into a physical contact with a person he or she cares about will act as an automatic stress reliever (Cohen, 2004). Arguably, hugs and holding of hands with persons you care about are therapeutic for the two individuals. A study by the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine established that a massage could boost one’s immune system making him or her more content (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003). 

The second factor is that one should find ways to give to others. This might entail listening to other people, offering assistance to a friend who is need or even volunteering in a local charity home. Studies have shown that through this, an individual will be able to view his or her problems with a new perspective and at the same time feel better about oneself through realizing that one can actually make a difference in other people’s lives (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003). 

The third aspect is for one to nourish his or her network of friends to ensure that they remain socially connected. One should try as much to see his or her friends regularly. Further in a situation when one is still single, he should ensure that he attends a weekly get-together and watch a match or a TV show. A strong friendship will play a greater role by helping to buffer one’s life challenges and live happily. 

Reconnect 

The concept of reconnecting plays a critical role in an individual’s life hence can help to ensure that an individual understand himself or herself and the people around them. The first aspect in this perspective is for one to explore his or her spirituality (Crabb, 2005). An individual must ensure to at least go to a temple, mosque or church because research has established that this will help improve an individual’s social interaction in life and at the same time get closer to their maker. It is always self-fulfilling to do the will of God and get spiritual fulfillment. Such places offer numerous affordable activities for both individuals and families hence serves as critical network for support and assistance in time of a crisis. Further, it is the right place for one to make contacts especially when one is looking for a job. 

Secondly, a person must enliven his tradition. In most instances, family tradition creates a feeling of solidarity with the members of the extended families thus developing a feeling of security which can help an individual during a difficult time (Freeman, 2000). When a person develops a feeling that he or she is not along often is a huge confidence booster. 

Lastly, the family members should try and ensure that they create some time and go for a holiday. When the family comes together, they will be able to strengthen their relationship and union while address possible challenges that might affect the family. 

ART 

Image emphasizing aspects of freedom 

Retrieved from: 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/523262050430640683/ 

References  

Cohen, S. (2004). Social relationships and health. American psychologist , 59 (8), 676. 

Crabb, L. (2005). Connecting: Healing ourselves and our relationships . Thomas Nelson Inc. 

Freeman, M. B. (2000). Reconnecting the Family: A Need for Sensible Visitation Schedules for Children of Divorce. Whittier L. Rev. , 22 , 779. 

Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed . Bloomsbury Publishing. 

Hampshire, S. (2000). Justice is conflict (Vol. 5). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 

Leoni, B. (2012). Freedom and the Law . Liberty Fund. 

Wilkinson, R. G., & Marmot, M. (2003). Social determinants of health: the solid facts . World Health Organization. 

Zygmunt, B. (2001). ’Identity in the globalising world’. Social Anthropology , 9 (2), 121-129.