VICARIOUS EXPERIENCE OF FREEDOM

JONATHON LIVINGSTON SEAGULL

RICHARD BACH

Jonathon Livingston Seagull is about freedom and breaking your limits, something every person connects to. For someone whose freedom is a privilege, it is an exhilarating read. Just imagine experiencing the highest level of freedom, without any boundaries and learning through that experience, but that freedom for Jonathon comes at a cost. He is ostracized from the flock, from the only home he is known since birth. For me too, experiencing a similar kind of freedom comes at a cost of breaking rules and expectations of society and family. I fear the unknown as I have never known what it is like to live without society's constraints, for better or worse. How does one find themselves when lost within these rules?

Even though the flock exiles him, he returns with love and kindness to teach them and show them a better way of living. To return to a flock which humiliated him takes a lot of courage, love and self-awareness shows his transcendence towards enlightenment. It is hard to imagine someone giving so self-lessly. Even when we witness it, we tend to look for ulterior motives. We look for the bad in altruism just to not feel inferior and prove to ourselves that everybody is selfish.

Jonathon Livingston Seagull has unmatched passion for learning and teaching. To be driven by that passion alone, it is highly relatable. The pursuit of knowledge, to enjoy the process of learning, it is an indescribable feeling. The thrill that runs through you as you read the sentences creates a craving for more which is like an addiction in itself.  For me, this character is not a person, but an ideology, a way of learning and thinking. Is this an utopia or something that can be made a reality? For a fact, I know that there are people who are trying to change the education system to a way in which every student can enjoy the process of learning. Let's hope this trend catches on...

"Freedom is nothing more than a chance to be better"
                                                                                     - Albert Camus

MUSING OF A TEENAGER

THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL

ANNE FRANK

I recently read the diary of a young girl and it was so engrossing, I was in denial over the death of Anne Frank. As I read the book, I felt as if I was living with Anne Frank and her family in the Annex, sharing their hope and fear. Their deaths, though I knew were inevitable came as an unbelievable shock. I had become Anne's confidante, sharing her life for 2 years and then suddenly, she is gone. What happened to her in those concentration camps is a story I will never know.

Even assuming that she might have been biased, frequently we observe the maturity and wisdom of an old soul shining through in her writing. Her writing resonates within me and I identify some features of mine in her. She shows tremendous self awareness at her age which gives us a reality check o how her circumstances have forced her into early maturation.

I am fortunate to have not witnessed a war. I did not expect to relate to Anne who is brave and courageous to have withstood all that she did. She did not let the negatives in her life break her. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger is a line that fits Anne perfectly.Until the very end, she is longing for love, care and somebody who understands her. Isn't this what we all crave, no matter the circumstances. At this stage of my life, I wonder will I ever meet that one person with whom my soul resonates, the one person who will understand the depths of my character?

The war is an ugly time but to experience its ugliness firsthand, its unthinkable. We sit in our homes obsessing over her material problems. When I read this book, the illusion of all that struck me. Our possessions, as we call it are temporary. We never know our future, let alone that all of these might be taken away from us in an instant. We are in a state of constant denial of death, always living as if we are sure of the future. In psychology, I have read that it is unhealthy to frequently use defense mechanisms such as denial. So are we helping ourselves by denying death or are we drifting further away from truth as we live this illusion of life?

"We live in a fantasy world, a word of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality"

-Iris Murdoch