Freedom of Expression

“Human being – a culture-bearing primate classified in the genus Homo, especially the species H. sapiens. Human beings are anatomically similar and related to the great apes but are distinguished by a more highly developed brain and a resultant capacity for articulate speech and abstract reasoning” -this definition of a Human Being is given by Google.

We humans are blessed living creatures. Blessed not only because we have a more developed brain, but most fortunate by the fact that we can speak. We can converse and convey our feelings, thoughts and doubts by the teeny-tiny magical thing in our larynx – the voice. But when something has already been bestowed upon by the Almighty himself, why then we have to fight ourselves for it?

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But around the world, there are governments and those wielding power who find many ways to obstruct it. Even after being a democratic, free country for 75 years, has it really got free, is a deep rooted question. One, whose answer the government neither wants the public to know not does it itself know.

Coming back to Freedom of Expression, so it isn’t only bandished by political parties and the government in power, but when you glance around you, you’ll know about it’s presence. Starting from scratch, when the very first dispute in most families arises, for choosing a stream/college for graduation, the first speed breaker in one’s expression is viewed. Addled between one’s aspirations and family’s expectations, many a times this thought strikes the cerebrum, making us wonder about this very freedom.

Struggle for expression doesn’t stop there, but is often for small matters, so it really doesn’t matter. The second big speed breaker comes again when after you graduate, when the question of what to do next in your life comes. With a ton of opportunities open for today’s generation, time and again the older generation wants the set old ways. The civil services, entry to medical or engineering fields, and if nothing else, teaching. They aren’t completely wrong also. These fields do guarantee success and a very reputed future. But who said other fields doesn’t. Anyways, disputes, discussions and assessments which sometimes consume a year or two, a life goal is set to work on.

The final blow to freedom of expression comes in time of marriage. Greatest difference arises when one wants to spend his/her life with someone known for a quite some time, i.e., in case of love marriage. A great deal of convincing is done from the to-be-marrying couple side towards their parents. Doubt of parents can also not be considered wrong. How can one marry his/her child to a stranger? What if the boy is an addict or the girl is an egoist? What if they don’t care for the family and the parents after marriage? Don’t you think same goes in a girl’s/boy’s mind when they are getting arranged?

In conclusion, hurdles to freedom of expression is at every step. The younger person relatively experiences it somewhat more than the elder lot, but everyone feels its warmth. What matters is maintaining a level of understanding. Atleast at the family level we can, and with a possession of well-researched facts, we can even achieve it at the political level.