One Shots

To Be Free

To be free like a bird in the sky. To be a mere speck against the blue, hovering, gliding, diving at my will. That's the freedom I want.

To sit in a tree like a squirrel. To jump from limb to limb with ease, gathering nuts and playing with others. That's the kind of freedom I want.

But how free is it really to be free?

A bird flies free in the air, but when it lands it has responsibilities. It has hatchlings to feed, or nests to build, or food to search for. A bird looks free from the ground, but is it truly free?

A squirrel is the same. It looks careless bounding from tree to fence to wire to tree again. But is a squirrel really as free as they look? They have to gather nuts for the winter, feed families or find trees to nest in. They bound and play but they still have to survive. Are they really that free?

We say we want freedom, to do as we please. But is freedom ever as free as we think? We still have to survive, and to survive we need supplies. We can not live without food, but all food is secured or it's harmful. We need water but most has been intoxicated by this world we can not get it easily.

If we were to be as free as we wished, could we survive? Could we abandon everything we know and go back to a simple life, like the birds and the squirrels?

Could we give up everything for freedom?