The following essay is the winning entry in an essay competition co-organised by Fragmented Voices. In it, Czech high school students, for whom English is a second language, wrote an opinion essay on the topic of freedom on the occasion of the 35th anniversary since the fall of communism. The winner was fifteen-year-old Tereza Štrumfová from the ‘Gymnázium Elišky Krásnohorské‘ grammar school in Prague. At the end of the article you can also read two excerpts from the entries of the runners-up.
What is freedom? It is difficult to explain.
According to the Oxford Language Dictionary, freedom is “the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants.” The Cambridge Dictionary also says that freedom is “the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc., whatever you want without being controlled or limited.” If you put it that way, then it sounds kind of amazing, but also scary. So, what is the right answer?
To answer this question, we have to look back to the past; to a time when people didn’t have so much freedom. Our great-grandparents and grandparents witnessed the rise of the Nazis who came and destroyed everything. People couldn’t say anything – they were beaten, tortured and when that was over, there was more to come. This is the time, the time of the totalitarian communist regimes, when our parents come into the picture. The inability to speak the truth, to listen or write what they wanted, etc. Anger slowly filled their lungs until their voices were heard. They finally got what they wanted – freedom.
Now we have this freedom: we can travel abroad, listen to whatever songs we want, read and write books, express our opinions and much more. This has contributed significantly to the development of democracy, especially in Europe, and therefore also to women’s rights. However, if we look at the state of freedom today, it’s not exactly great. Or is it? All over the world, people are still being persecuted and tortured because of who they are or what they say. Their voices are silenced either with money or with threats. There are wars just because of greed and jealousy.
Is this what our parents and grandparents dreamed of and wished for? It is impossible to know.
To summarise, I believe that freedom is a privilege to be able to say, think and do anything within certain limits. Without these limits, people become aggressive, jealous and manipulative versions of themselves. I think the idea of freedom is valid, but there is no absolute freedom. Freedom must always be paired with limits of personal responsibility.
I think the greatest freedom we have is that we can be human. We can show the world our opinions, ideas and souls. This point is made clear in Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Winston broke the system and was therefore happy and free for a brief moment. But in the end, the Party prevailed and turned him into the complete opposite – he became nothing more than a ‘clapping sheep.’ Karolína Tomanová, aged 15
Two-thirds of the world today is believed to be made up of countries ruled by non-democratic regimes. Extremist tendencies in Europe are on the rise; women and minorities have to feel safe yet. We, those privileged to live in democratic countries, may soon – as in many cases in history – give up our freedom for the promise of safety and security. Klára Adamská, aged 19