The Freedom That Love Can Bring You

“Freedom.” – What does this word mean to you? What pictures does it bring to mind? Are they somewhat close to that of the concept of a caged bird; a slave – a human, finally set free, after years of cruelty and repression?

Or perhaps, you live in a war ravaged country, and you ache for the sovereignty of your land, of things going back to normal, and the fears for your life and that of your loved ones subsiding. Vanishing. – “Freedom.”

Or probably, and most likely what comes to mind, when I serve you this word, this beautiful word that conjures up eclectic images, are vast open fields and outspread arms and your beaming young face upturned in the direction of the glow of the sun, winds ruffling your hair in that eye-catching of ways, or beating it around wildly if you are female.

But pay close attention to “being” dear reader, or to simplistic “living” if that’s too wearisome of a chore, pay close attention, and you will come to find that there are other, more “just-as-fulfilling” freedoms out there. In this colossal, yet strangely stifling world.

And it is only one of these freedoms that I will be discussing, the rest we’ll keep for later.

“Have you tasted the Freedom of Open Admiration?”

Have you lived in that haven? And experienced the safety of its restful refuge? Can you do that? Are you free, in that sense of the word? Of having a high regard for the person you love, for the people you love, and not having to conceal it? To bury it. To shove it as far in and as deep down as yourself can get?

Because that’s the norm these days right? To hide what you feel? To be hesitant or ashamed of admitting how much you admire someone. Their qualities, their beauty, their talents.  Their effects – on you. Their very person.

But it’s worth keeping in mind that not all can carry the crown of being admired, gracefully. Some will get vain. And some will renounce their honors in exhaustion. While it, to some, will be too big a burden. But there will always, always remain the very few, who will be themselves and also humbly and knowingly “look-up-able”; and therein – lies the Freedom!

And so this will be another one of my missions. Another one of my aspirations. To make the spaces around me as free and as conducive enough to not just live and love, but to look up to, too; like I do when I fix my vision on the flickering, glistening stars or the deep blueness of the daylight sky.

To marvel at, explicitly. To worship, overtly. To raise my gaze upwards when I look to you, but to not stop there, to go even further – and to do it, ever – so proudly.