Which is more important- freedom or survival?

Freedom and Survival are equally important; they both predict the outcome of life. Everyone wants freedom, and sometimes to get to freedom, you have to survive. I thought of two books that I have read in the last year, Call Me Ishmael and Into the Wild.

            In the book Into the Wild, Chris McCandless ventures out into the wild to survive, on his own instincts. Chris had a lot of trouble with his family, so he wanted freedom to get away from it all. To Chris, freedom was doing what he loved without material possessions. When Chris was living on the road, he found freedom in nature’s beauty and open road. Chris’ life story went from freedom to survival. When Chris had reached the bus that was left in Alaska, he had relied on his instincts for survival. At the end of the book, I believe surviving was more important to Chris than freedom. He knew that he life was dwindling so he tried to cross the river, but he couldn’t. From there on out in order to survive he couldn’t think about his newfound freedom, he just had to think about keeping himself alive. When Chris died I suspect he realized sometimes survival is more important than freedom, and his freedom was short-lived. The book, Call Me Ishmael, was a very similar story to Chris in that, Ishmael had to survive through some very tough times as well. On his journey to find freedom, Ishmael temporarily relinquished his freedom after being forced to join the army. Though he gave up some of his freedom along the way, eventually, with time, survival and patience his freedom was achieved.

            As I have stated before, survival and freedom go hand in hand. Just like it did with the books I have just mentioned. If you think about it, all the men and women who fight and die for us in war have survived. In order for freedom to be achieved you have to survive. Because of the people who survived and fought through war, where would we be today with out it? Any freedoms that we have should not be taken away, such as voting, education, and the right to own property. Someone somewhere along the lines has made sacrifices for us to enjoy these freedoms. That sacrifice could mean that these people had to survive adverse conditions and adverse situations just to give us what we have today.  We sometimes don’t realize what others, our own citizens, had in taking part in building our society.

            Since we live in a free country, all we have to worry about is how to maintain our freedom and our individual rights. Just like Chris, everyone wants to survive to enjoy the amenities in life. With our freedom and survival skills we can achieve our goals. Many times we wind up saying we don’t have enough freedom, but some freedom has to be given up in order to survive. 

Vincent

Vincent

            After listening to the story of Vincent, you really think about hope, love and care. My dad works with many handicap and disabled kids. Some of the kids he works with have Downs Syndrome, which is similar to the Vincent Syndrome. I have gotten a chance to meet some of them; their minds work so differently than yours and mine, these kids really think outside the box. Not only has my dad worked with children with Downs, but I also have as well. There was a little kid named Josh, he sounded much like Vincent, hard to understand and always off in his own little world, it was always hard to get him to focus. The only way was to talk about his favorite thing, and that was trucks, which he could talk about anytime. I found this very similar to Vincent when he was able to state all the movies his dad named.

            It was surprising to me that Vincent had a job, most disabled people don’t get the opportunity to work. He obviously has been successful throughout his life playing many sports (training for the Special Olympics) and having a job, but amidst the hectic schedule are people who don’t understand him. I can’t imagine going throughout life, with people always having to help me do even the basic things in life, such as brushing my teeth. I tried to put myself in Vincent’s shoes, and I can see the frustration that Vincent went through, which may be why Vincent quit his job. The family said he just sat in his room wasting a way his life. All his brothers and sisters got the freedom to do as they pleased, so having someone tell you what to do like a child could be hard to deal with. Though having something to take care of would help Vincent with the challenges of his life. When the mom got the chickens for Vincent to take care of, it gave Vincent something to hope for, care and love. I think he just realized loving and caring for something is a good thing, and he accepted that. The chickens kind of started his life again for him, because immediately he got involved in some of his old sports again.

            Though this story is about a man with his own syndrome, the Vincent Syndrome, it all comes back to the word love. Love is something that brings people together, and the willingness that Vincent’s parents have towards him is inseparable. I really think that the parents made Vincent’s life worth living; they were the ones that truly understood him. The love and care each one gave to Vincent helped him cope with being “different.” Recently this week, a boy similar to Vincent pasted away, his parents were the kindest people you would ever meet, there were also the most caring. This family has four other boys besides Joseph, the child with Down Syndrome, but they always made him feel special, just like Vincent and his family. I often think about how hard it would be to take care of a child with such special needs, God really had to give you a gift, and this gift was obviously given to Vincent’s family.