required reading: andrew henry's meadow

in our society, freedom connotes the opportunity to choose what to do & where to go & who to be with. we have been duped into believing we will be free when we can make all our own choices for our own selves. but, look around and tell me: what group of people seem the most free?

the more choice we have, the more we must choose. where to go. what to do. with whom to spend time. choice leads to obligation & duty. choice leads to unchoice & disappointment. we can only do so much; ergo, we leave so much undone.

children are free, and ironically, have the least say in the daily decisions of their lives. they are the most free on the most basic level: to behave as they wish. children can reach out a touch a stranger's fur coat. children can cut through neighborhood yards. children can tell their parents' bosses: you're fat!. children can skip through the parking lot, turn cartwheels in the town square, play on the junglegym. children can do things that are childish & silly, and no one will question their behaviour for the precise reason that they are children. children are free from restraint in a way that we all yearn to be.

is there a way to have both -- the freedom to make choices & the freedom of expression, the freedom to decide & the freedom to play?