Yes but many people already do know this and do pursue adventures, go on quests, etc. Look at how many people have been going on the Santiago pilgrimage, for instance.
Freedoms are always taken away from us in the name of safety.
"Those who would sacrifice freedom for safety deserve neither"
We are now a nation of scared little weasels, thanks mostly to the Republicans.
Freedom is still out there but it's harder and harder to find.
When I was in college I could fly for free because my father was an airline mechanic. I traveled to many countries with virtually no money in my pockets, (I was a poor student) Slept in airports and ate $1 hamburgers, but man was I free.
"Those who would sacrifice freedom for safety deserve neither"
We are now a nation of scared little weasels, thanks mostly to the Republicans.
Freedom is still out there but it's harder and harder to find.
When I was in college I could fly for free because my father was an airline mechanic. I traveled to many countries with virtually no money in my pockets, (I was a poor student) Slept in airports and ate $1 hamburgers, but man was I free.
4
Send him off on a true adventure: Tell him to hop a cheap flight to Iceland and live there a year.
It has the world's highest literacy rate, the guts to stare down the IMF, equality, a wild sense of culture, astonishing landscapes and no mosquitos.
One year there and he will never view this world the same again.
And his odds of survival are better than trying to outrun a thousand little wars that only locals know about.
If you like your kid, send him to Iceland.
It has the world's highest literacy rate, the guts to stare down the IMF, equality, a wild sense of culture, astonishing landscapes and no mosquitos.
One year there and he will never view this world the same again.
And his odds of survival are better than trying to outrun a thousand little wars that only locals know about.
If you like your kid, send him to Iceland.
5
I grew up with kids that had great American names like Sheldon, Nathan, Irving and Delmore, but never before have encountered one named Blaise. It's a good day when you meet somebody new.
2
... have I encountered ...
1
Blaise could still go to Afghanistan, Roger. All he has to do is join the Army.
9
I would suggest your son (and maybe you) check out the Adventure Cycling Association if interested in the freedom, and challenges, that the world still offers. They have a magazine that regularly tells some pretty wild tales. Bike touring not to be undertaken casually, but guidance available for learning "the craft," and group tours exist with varying levels of support. My impression is that real challenge of the "connected world" is that it has magnified the way that wandering westerners are seen in the "non-western world" as a threat vs a curiosity. The Peace Corps sounded like a great idea in the 60's -- hard to imagine it being dangerous or threatening to the locals. It's a different world now, but still one where organizations like Doctors without Borders do a lot of good in tough places. I imagine the people who work for these organizations have some tales to tell as well, and have made some interesting personal choices.
5
I would add to Mr. Cohen's lament the restriction by grass-roots censorship of free intellectual discourse and the diminution of intellectual tolerance.
2
Thank you for this, Mr. Cohen. You have stirred memories.
4
Wonderful article. "Fear is a much trafficked commodity." A great line, and so true. Such an indictment of our political classes, including the Democrats but especially the Republicans. And what is it "trafficked" to buy? The war machine, defense contractors, to prop up the military-industrial complex against which even Eisenhower warned us.
"Freedom is inseparable from risk." Also so well put, and true. The more perceived "risk" we strive to minimize (and, usually, it is merely fabricated or exaggerated risk), the less freedom we have. The less freedom we (and our children!) have, the less wise we become, and our decision-making abilities suffer. We seek to avert "risk" and we end up with little or no freedom, and stupid to boot.
Let's have some courage, rather than fear. How about a politician who recognizes that crime has been going steadily down for decades, that terrorism gains and works only when we fear, emphasize, and elevate it. Let's sponsor a country that thrives on its principles of freedom and human dignity, rather than military domination, reaction, and bullying. We've lost our way, and the fear-mongering in the media and in politics is a leading cause.
"Freedom is inseparable from risk." Also so well put, and true. The more perceived "risk" we strive to minimize (and, usually, it is merely fabricated or exaggerated risk), the less freedom we have. The less freedom we (and our children!) have, the less wise we become, and our decision-making abilities suffer. We seek to avert "risk" and we end up with little or no freedom, and stupid to boot.
Let's have some courage, rather than fear. How about a politician who recognizes that crime has been going steadily down for decades, that terrorism gains and works only when we fear, emphasize, and elevate it. Let's sponsor a country that thrives on its principles of freedom and human dignity, rather than military domination, reaction, and bullying. We've lost our way, and the fear-mongering in the media and in politics is a leading cause.
6
I certainly found plenty of freedom while attending college and working part time during the semester and full time in the summers, in a city far enough from my parents that I could ignore them.
International travel? Jet setting around the world? Months hiking -- where did your money come from?
First world, top 10% problems.
International travel? Jet setting around the world? Months hiking -- where did your money come from?
First world, top 10% problems.
10
Back then you could travel to places like that and survive without a lot of money. Oh how the world has changed.
7
I have to agree, AliceP, it's definitely "first world, top 10% problems."
The column also caused me to search for a word I hadn't seen in some time: "Humblebrag -Subtly letting others now about how fantastic your life is while undercutting it with a bit of self-effacing humor or "woe is me" gloss.
The column also caused me to search for a word I hadn't seen in some time: "Humblebrag -Subtly letting others now about how fantastic your life is while undercutting it with a bit of self-effacing humor or "woe is me" gloss.
2
I endorse Mr. Cohen's advice to his son. If you don't have adventures when you are young, you are unlikely to have them later. A package tour of Europe after retirement is nice but it is not adventure. The world is, however, far more controlled and regulated than in the time of Mr. Cohen's youth (and my own.)
Among many adventures of my youth I hitch-hiked to California when I was 20, around 1970. It took 4 months and was quite wonderful. I met all sorts of fascinating people along the way, was drafted into a company of puppeteers for a while, spent time on a commune in Colorado, experienced the fading echos of flower power and the Summer 0f Love in San Francisco, had a religious experience among the redwoods. I doubt a kid could do that today. He'd probably be arrested for hitch hiking and vagrancy before he got out of New Jersey. If not, who would stop to give him a ride? Times have changed. Too many of us fear the worst and those fears eat away at freedom like acid.
Among many adventures of my youth I hitch-hiked to California when I was 20, around 1970. It took 4 months and was quite wonderful. I met all sorts of fascinating people along the way, was drafted into a company of puppeteers for a while, spent time on a commune in Colorado, experienced the fading echos of flower power and the Summer 0f Love in San Francisco, had a religious experience among the redwoods. I doubt a kid could do that today. He'd probably be arrested for hitch hiking and vagrancy before he got out of New Jersey. If not, who would stop to give him a ride? Times have changed. Too many of us fear the worst and those fears eat away at freedom like acid.
4
Hitch hiking, sleeping in airports, etc. were options for white men as the risks were not that great for them. How many African Americans men and women did this just to experience "freedom"?!
4
This makes me think a little bit about the movie "A Walk in the Woods" with Robert Redford.
Walking the Appalachian Trail, these two older generationals come face to face physically and emotionally with freedom of youth.
The movie trip only lasts a couple hours, but the reflection of going back lasts longer and brings to the forefront personal experiences worth reliving in the mind.
Clearly we still do seek freedom no matter our age. Finding it is the trick, yes.
Walking the Appalachian Trail, these two older generationals come face to face physically and emotionally with freedom of youth.
The movie trip only lasts a couple hours, but the reflection of going back lasts longer and brings to the forefront personal experiences worth reliving in the mind.
Clearly we still do seek freedom no matter our age. Finding it is the trick, yes.
2
“Freedom is inseparable from risk”. This presupposes an atomized individuality and is belied by the freedom people experience in a secure environment.
Of course we were all young once and had the freedom of ignorance and irresponsibility. It still lives in nostalgia although as the old joke goes “Nostalgia is not as good as it used to be.
If your son has to ask “whether it’s still possible to have such adventures” obviously the answer, for him, is no.
Otherwise he would just having them.
Of course we were all young once and had the freedom of ignorance and irresponsibility. It still lives in nostalgia although as the old joke goes “Nostalgia is not as good as it used to be.
If your son has to ask “whether it’s still possible to have such adventures” obviously the answer, for him, is no.
Otherwise he would just having them.
2
Want a real adventure? Join Peace Corps for two years. Volunteers of every age are accepted and make great contributions.
6
What's behind this current tide of fear in America? Do US citizens really think the 'Islamic State' can destroy America? Islamic thugs, killers with AK47s . . .
When Roger was feeling most carefree (1970's) the entire world was about 15 minutes away from total destruction via thermonuclear war - and we almost got there, at least twice (Cuban missile Crisis '62 and Able Archer 83). At that time Americans were told by the press and powers-that-be to be 'brave', 'patriotic', 'trust their leaders'. Now they are being told by the same likes to 'be afraid'. Very strange. Very sad.
By the way, the nukes are still there, 24/7, ready to rock & roll.
When Roger was feeling most carefree (1970's) the entire world was about 15 minutes away from total destruction via thermonuclear war - and we almost got there, at least twice (Cuban missile Crisis '62 and Able Archer 83). At that time Americans were told by the press and powers-that-be to be 'brave', 'patriotic', 'trust their leaders'. Now they are being told by the same likes to 'be afraid'. Very strange. Very sad.
By the way, the nukes are still there, 24/7, ready to rock & roll.
7
And the risk of nuclear war is much greater than it has ever been since 62. Our neocon driven policy toward Russia is much more aggressive than would have been acceptable during the Cold War. Americans have got used to having nuclear weapons and MAD no longer works. Sooner or later the war will come, by accident or arrogant miscalculation, unless we get rid of the bombs, but no one is interested in that anymore, because keeping them is very profitable to some and money talks.
3
I love this article. Cohen articulates something I feel strongly and worry about looking at my 20-year-old daughter. I lived in West Berlin for three years (this was in the early 1980s), teaching English, serving beer, traveling around eastern and western Europe, also to Israel. I want her to have such an adventure too; it changed my life and gave me a great deal of independence of mind. But I'm not sure I really encourage her to feel free enough to do that; am worried about her safety as a girl/woman, about her future, her career, etc. I think what my parents worried about the most was that I would just not come home.
3
The world is freer than ever? Which world? Certainly not the real world that we live in or we would not be debating ways to fight ISIS or what to do with millions of refugees.
1
Cohen writes, "I don’t know if the world is freer than a half-century ago. On paper, it is."
This is a perfect example of a westerner who already enjoyed freedom and is able to use his limited resources - although they are not limited from the Afghan's perspective - to roam around without a care.
Ask an Afghani or anyone from what used to called the second and third world and they'll have a different perspective.
So, even as you speak about freedom being replaced by fear, at the very least please acknowledge that it is a western - or what used to be called as first world - vision and not a universal vision.
This is a perfect example of a westerner who already enjoyed freedom and is able to use his limited resources - although they are not limited from the Afghan's perspective - to roam around without a care.
Ask an Afghani or anyone from what used to called the second and third world and they'll have a different perspective.
So, even as you speak about freedom being replaced by fear, at the very least please acknowledge that it is a western - or what used to be called as first world - vision and not a universal vision.
9
A young man testified to Congress that the omnipresent drones over Afghanistan made him fear clear sunny skies because that is when they are most deadly and killed his Grandmother and much of his relatives.
7
Growing up in Portland, Oregon in the 60s and 70s, we rarely had a heavy snowfall but when we did, every kid in the neighborhood headed over to the top of a steep, blocks-long street where we sledded the night away. A few years ago I was back in the old neighborhood during a heavy snowfall and with eager anticipation went over there. The place was deserted. I was totally mystified. I wondered if all the kids were home studying or on Facebook... or was it because their parents felt sledding was too dangerous? Maybe Roger is on to something.
7
Having had many of those experiences in my youth (road trip), and college (field research) and the luxury of working during my career in locations where there was often no other sign of human habitation, being truly free is a revelation to most (and scares the average city slicker). Even now, my wife and I plan our vacation trips to get away from people, not towards them. Luckily, our current home base is in the rural midwest, where the nearest neighbor is a mile away, the average traffic is one car per day (the mailman) and almost every day, I can step outside and not hear any indication there is human activity within earshot. Until a couple of years ago, neither cell phones or other outside communication other than an old copper land line was available.
1
Of course, freedom is never really "out there", but within ourselves. one could be in the wildest places and feel fear…that's not freedom. You could have all financial needs met, but that is not freedom. I think freedom is loving what is, no matter what that is. It's appreciation.
10
Very good, Carolyn. Freedom is the capacity to love Reality. But we live in a sea of disinformation, and reality is hard to find these days.
6
I'm 83 and hit the road like Kerouac. Freedom, not quite. The U.S. looked bleak and broken from my New York City perspective, if I even knew what perspective mean. L.A. was my goal. It was a hick town with a drug, free sex mentality. Is that the freedom you are missing Mr. Cohen? Now of course I look for order from that chaos. I must finally be catching up to my old age. Off to Cuba next week though to see what the lack of "Freedom" did to this country.
4
Sherwood I don't think it is true that all the seekers were seeking the same things as you were.
My best friend's twins didn't drive to Patagonia, but they did save their money for two years to fund their trip after graduation and surfed up and down the coast of Chile for months on end.
Most of the students at the university I teach won't be doing that. They're terrified of messing their life up and so stay here studying hours on end for the various tests they absolutely must ace to get into the best professional schools (e.g., medical, pharmacy, law, architecture, etc.) with high upside earnings. Even when they find themselves with time on their hands because they did ace everything and did get into the best med school, which won't be starting until the fall eight months away, they will continue on their regimented life because that is all they know how to do. Since they've done what they were supposed to do their whole life, they're at a loss of what to do to fill this empty space, and since what was required of them had nothing to do with imagination, they don't know how to have fun.
Most of the students at the university I teach won't be doing that. They're terrified of messing their life up and so stay here studying hours on end for the various tests they absolutely must ace to get into the best professional schools (e.g., medical, pharmacy, law, architecture, etc.) with high upside earnings. Even when they find themselves with time on their hands because they did ace everything and did get into the best med school, which won't be starting until the fall eight months away, they will continue on their regimented life because that is all they know how to do. Since they've done what they were supposed to do their whole life, they're at a loss of what to do to fill this empty space, and since what was required of them had nothing to do with imagination, they don't know how to have fun.
29
You can still have the adventure of a lifetime in Canada, by hiking, by canoe, and by kayak, and right now you can't beat the exchange rate.
12
Sure, in this age of social media, with its expected constant connectivity, mumbo-jumbo online personality tests for job applicants and recording of everything you say or do that might get online - including credit card purchases - we're free, alright. Free to try to psych out those in a position to evaluate us for anything, and perhaps starve if we don't succeed.
"War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength." - George Orwell, '1984'. And this current Gilded Age of Surveillance - private as well as public (with the former perhaps even more of a hazard to our very existence) is starting to make HIM look like an optimist.
"War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength." - George Orwell, '1984'. And this current Gilded Age of Surveillance - private as well as public (with the former perhaps even more of a hazard to our very existence) is starting to make HIM look like an optimist.
3
So they got you running scared, as you are supposed to be. Personally my attitude to them is unprintable.
1
The freedom Cohen describes is more like youth and innocence. Youth: energy and lack of fear. You lose energy with age and gain fear from seeing bad things happen to your friends with age and time and chance. Innocence: not a thought for what it might be like for the people he observed, no worries about disease or danger, and no responsibilities and obligations. Magic time.
11
Roger Cohen, Thank you for capturing in words what freedom means to me, and how it has been lost. I share your sadness for the loss.
7
"I don’t know if the world is freer than a half-century ago."
Of course you don't; no one could know. "Is the world freer than a half century ago?" is a nonsense question. Freedom is not an elixir as W Bush's second inaugural presumed--49 times..
"Freedom" is a complex [triadic] relation among (a) persons or agents (b) constraints or compulsions [CC] (constraints prevent or restrict action; compulsions prevent or restrict inaction) and (c) a range of activity.
The idiom "free from" refers to (b)--but omits (a) and (c). FDR's "four freedoms" are examples
"Free-to" refers to (c)--but omits (a) and (b) This is crucial because often one person's freedom to do X, Y or Z depends on the CCs of other people. Your freedom often MEANS the unfreedom of others--they can't interfere or must comply or obey.
A complete declaration of freedom would specify (a) who is free (b) what constraints or compulsions for them are absent (which may be constraints or compulsions on others) and (c) what they are "free to do".
Often "freedoms" (and "rights" which are a kind of freedom) are specified in terms of "free-to"--as in the US Bill of Rights--free to speak, publish, assemble and so on. The "free from" part means "Congress shall pass no law....") Citizens are thus "free from" Congress. The revolution freed the US from England.
But there are countless other means of unfreedom--like lack of money, education, security or infrastructure.
US politics is drunk on elixir-freedom nonsense.
Of course you don't; no one could know. "Is the world freer than a half century ago?" is a nonsense question. Freedom is not an elixir as W Bush's second inaugural presumed--49 times..
"Freedom" is a complex [triadic] relation among (a) persons or agents (b) constraints or compulsions [CC] (constraints prevent or restrict action; compulsions prevent or restrict inaction) and (c) a range of activity.
The idiom "free from" refers to (b)--but omits (a) and (c). FDR's "four freedoms" are examples
"Free-to" refers to (c)--but omits (a) and (b) This is crucial because often one person's freedom to do X, Y or Z depends on the CCs of other people. Your freedom often MEANS the unfreedom of others--they can't interfere or must comply or obey.
A complete declaration of freedom would specify (a) who is free (b) what constraints or compulsions for them are absent (which may be constraints or compulsions on others) and (c) what they are "free to do".
Often "freedoms" (and "rights" which are a kind of freedom) are specified in terms of "free-to"--as in the US Bill of Rights--free to speak, publish, assemble and so on. The "free from" part means "Congress shall pass no law....") Citizens are thus "free from" Congress. The revolution freed the US from England.
But there are countless other means of unfreedom--like lack of money, education, security or infrastructure.
US politics is drunk on elixir-freedom nonsense.
10
Roger Cohen should live in the U.S. instead of the U.K. The bottom line is
that freedom is in the Western democracies. Freedom does not exist
in theocracies like Saudi Arabia and Iran, and Syria and ISIS territories.
If Roger Cohen is writing about his young years, maybe his journalistic
career is over. Freedom? The ability to criticize the Op-Ed writings in
the N.Y. Times, and have these comments published.
that freedom is in the Western democracies. Freedom does not exist
in theocracies like Saudi Arabia and Iran, and Syria and ISIS territories.
If Roger Cohen is writing about his young years, maybe his journalistic
career is over. Freedom? The ability to criticize the Op-Ed writings in
the N.Y. Times, and have these comments published.
1
The Iranians have developed their representative institutions over many years and most Iranians feel free within them. Some, who may wish for something different, are as free as were the Occupy Movement to claim the Public Space in New York.
2
I'm coming to believe that a certain amount of societal structure enables freedom, somewhat ironically. My daughter's young family have lived on military bases these last few years, and her children have much more freedom than she and her brother did, because the military structure and yes, rules, create a safe, orderly environment where kids can thrive with independence. As a result parents are freer too; everyone watches out for the kids, and they learn rules as well as security. It's like my own childhood from the 50s. I can't believe I'm admitting all this because I used to believe freedom was the absence of rules and order. Now I see that freedom might require rules and order.
19
I'm surprised Blaise doesn't find his father's bourgeois adventures off-puttig. He has to ask Pa to chart his course for him--doesn't he know that rebellion is the first step toward freedom? Real men these days attain nirvana by basejumping and skiing off mountain cliffs without a parachute. Yet even that field is now overcrowded, and some in desperation are reverting back to the old standy-by: Russian roulette--selfied, of course. An un-thrilled life--what a waste. The farmer who thought he had found freedom through the sweat of his brow and helping his neighbor must make Cohen shudder. The strange world of entitlement, where bondage is just another word for nothing left to gain.
5
Freedom is not knowing what your limits are - but not being afraid to try to find out. Luxury is the ability to make that attempt.
2
It's really hard to square this column with the guy who is so in favor of continuous war in the area that meant so much to him in his hippie incarnation.
His columns about how to avoid the fear of terrorism in Paris, Israel or London is in diametric opposition to the spirit of this column. Frankly, I far prefer this Roger Cohen.
His columns about how to avoid the fear of terrorism in Paris, Israel or London is in diametric opposition to the spirit of this column. Frankly, I far prefer this Roger Cohen.
4
Why not just walk out the door and leave everything behind, the fretting, feeling burdened by the responsibilities one has created for oneself when there are no orphans left behind to worry about? Your friends may miss your emails for awhile, but eventually you will be forgotten, and you can get on with this business of living.
'I am thinking of leaving America', earlier to an African friend, and where are you planning to go, she asked. How about if I join you in Senegal? and we laughed with some warmth. But I wonder because there is still time to consider where to pitch a modest tent somewhere.
Bin the technology, the noise, the static and while not planning to pull a Gandhi, choose God over Humanity, I might at the end be able to say that I met a few good people on this path of life. Quite extraordinary, if one long Monopoly game.
'I am thinking of leaving America', earlier to an African friend, and where are you planning to go, she asked. How about if I join you in Senegal? and we laughed with some warmth. But I wonder because there is still time to consider where to pitch a modest tent somewhere.
Bin the technology, the noise, the static and while not planning to pull a Gandhi, choose God over Humanity, I might at the end be able to say that I met a few good people on this path of life. Quite extraordinary, if one long Monopoly game.
3
With the overwhelming presence of technology in today’s society, it is difficult to detach ourselves for even a few hours. Activities that used to be time to relax or spend with others have become time where there is a break every ten minutes to use our phones to check back in with the rest of the world. While it may be true that technology makes us better connected to the world as a whole, it certainly creates a disconnect with those around us on a daily basis. Quality time with friends and family has been replaced by time where everyone is together physically, but mentally in their own digital world.
With this dependence on technology, we are all in a prison of our own making. Each of us has gotten so used to having the technology at our fingertips to do essentially whatever we want. While most of the world has become physically free over the last fifty years, our technology has replaced the totalitarian governments and controls what we do. To become truly free we must be willing to let go of our technology for extended periods of time to interact with the world around us. We have to find a way to reconnect with those around us and disconnect from our virtual lives, which are much less enriching than the real world. This is really an issue of willingness to do so and, although it is difficult, the ability to do so can go a long way to improve our quality of life.
With this dependence on technology, we are all in a prison of our own making. Each of us has gotten so used to having the technology at our fingertips to do essentially whatever we want. While most of the world has become physically free over the last fifty years, our technology has replaced the totalitarian governments and controls what we do. To become truly free we must be willing to let go of our technology for extended periods of time to interact with the world around us. We have to find a way to reconnect with those around us and disconnect from our virtual lives, which are much less enriching than the real world. This is really an issue of willingness to do so and, although it is difficult, the ability to do so can go a long way to improve our quality of life.
11
What to make of so many small minded comments, with axes to grind and bitter tirades against the privilelige of seeing some of the world. The critical comments are correct of course, but irrelevant. Youth is the time to be foolish, full of oneself, daring and adventurous, to find new places, see new people. I met several young Australians in my travels, usually at youth hostels. It was not easy to get away from "down under" in those days and they were taking their "gap year", traveling to see the world beyond their island continent before settling into university and a career back home. The Germans have a word for it "wanderjahr", a year(or two) of youthful wandering. If readers want to complain that only pampered privilige permits that, I pity them. Perhaps they share some of the mental and spiritual constraints that kept many of my generation from ever leaving home and taking the chance to wander. My family had no money, but you could work a few months and have enough to really get somewhere. I was often tired, cold, hungry and lonely on the road, but I desperately wanted to see where that road led me, and have never regretted a minute of it.
24
We are free when we are between definitions. Baby boomers escaped their parents' notions of reality and walked out into the wilderness and created their own. You didn't have to have money to make the escape. I lived in a half way house in Hells Kitchen and we floated over the world. People today have penned themselves in -- way too goal oriented.
3
Try ocean sailing
4
My comment is not precisely about freedom but I think it's related enough.
My mother was visiting me while I was in graduate school, which was the same university at which I had attended college. We were standing in the college courtyard and I made some remark about how young and carefree the undergraduates looked and how I wished I were back at that stage, and my mother turned to me and said, matter-of-factly but very firmly, "You were never carefree -- you were younger once, yes, but never carefree."
It's always a trip to hear how other people see you.
My mother was visiting me while I was in graduate school, which was the same university at which I had attended college. We were standing in the college courtyard and I made some remark about how young and carefree the undergraduates looked and how I wished I were back at that stage, and my mother turned to me and said, matter-of-factly but very firmly, "You were never carefree -- you were younger once, yes, but never carefree."
It's always a trip to hear how other people see you.
8
Maybe I should have included that I'm (only) less than three years younger than Mr. Cohen.
1
People who think freedom is something you buy have no clue what real freedom is all about.
At 22, my net worth consisted of an old motorcycle and an older guitar.
An old man in an expensive new car pulled up next to me at a stoplight near Miami one morning, looked over at me, and said, "God, I wish I were you."
Today, I'm that old man.
I'd trade ever dime I have to be young and poor, again, even though my health is good and my life is very comfortable.
Life is way too short to spend it chasing money.
Take my word for it...
At 22, my net worth consisted of an old motorcycle and an older guitar.
An old man in an expensive new car pulled up next to me at a stoplight near Miami one morning, looked over at me, and said, "God, I wish I were you."
Today, I'm that old man.
I'd trade ever dime I have to be young and poor, again, even though my health is good and my life is very comfortable.
Life is way too short to spend it chasing money.
Take my word for it...
51
I began writing a long winded tale about my early life experiences. I'm 67. Nevertheless, I came to the same conclusion Hesse did in the novel, Demian- "Every person's life is a journey unto themselves."
That odyssey might be the ultimate luxury, the ultimate freedom.
That odyssey might be the ultimate luxury, the ultimate freedom.
33
Real freedom will never come as long as people live in fear. Fear of job loss, fear of ill health, fear of community breakdown.
"Freedom" is not anarchy, and as the rich suck all of the money out of communities and cities, Civil War is the result. Not freedom.
"Freedom" is not anarchy, and as the rich suck all of the money out of communities and cities, Civil War is the result. Not freedom.
10
Perhaps freedom is easier for religious Americans to recognize, deal with and celebrate. The Judeo-Christian ethic awakens us to the issue of being a slave and then freed, and so enjoying freedom is easier.
I have to admit not having any appreciation for the nihilistic depression so many young liberals seem determined to lve with. Even when I was a strident liberal, I enjoyed every part of life. No one told me to be jealous of anyone.
I have to admit not having any appreciation for the nihilistic depression so many young liberals seem determined to lve with. Even when I was a strident liberal, I enjoyed every part of life. No one told me to be jealous of anyone.
3
L'Oss if you understood the Judeo-Christian ethic I guess you would know that it is depressing to be a slave.
3
L’OsservatoreA,
Right, because nothing is says freedom like having to ask for forgiveness in every want and desire one might have.
Much less having a book of guidelines one must follow or be forever damned.
Cut the shackles and stop bowing your head.
Feel freedom.
Right, because nothing is says freedom like having to ask for forgiveness in every want and desire one might have.
Much less having a book of guidelines one must follow or be forever damned.
Cut the shackles and stop bowing your head.
Feel freedom.
2
As a pre-baby boomer, "On the Road" (which I've always hated) and "Easy Rider" (which I still love with all of my heart) defined my youthful concepts of freedom. Rather dangerous, both of them. In the 1990s, freedom to me was riding my motorbike 37,000 kms over the roughest and remotest roads in outback Australia with no fear of the snakes or bull ants or roadside murderers which all of my contemporaries expected to get us. No hostels or motels for us. We slept in our swags on the ground on the side of the road and at night we watched the glory of the ever lasting stars. Freedom was dislocating my shoulder when I crashed my bike on the Birdsville Track 1000 kms from a doctor and it going back into place on the third agonising pull. Today, I'm 78 and my husband is 81, and freedom to us is telling the kids to go to hell and embarking in a few weeks on another remote Australian outback adventure, but this time in a 4x4 ute with a tent on the top in deference to our advanced age. The rental company tells us we'll be incapable of popping up the tent which requires climbing onto the bonnet of the truck. So what. Maybe we'll just have to sleep outside. Roger is absolutely right. Fear is the defining factor in freedom. We need it to be alive. Danger ( and we've both had a lot of it in our lives) is good for you and facing a Brahman bull walking over your campsite in the middle of the night is almost as good as surviving the unsurfable wave.
20
The most important journey and the one all these "adventurers" are avoiding is the journey inward. That is where real freedom lies.
2
Reading this I am struck by how much such possibilities of freedom are rooted in affluence and unavailable to most Americans.
30
Ask yourself if today's technology existed in 1960, would the Civil Rights movement have happened and succeeded? Look at how peaceful occupy Wall Street protesters had the full apparatus of the National Security State turned against them, from Federal Fusion centers to planted provocateurs & openly hostile warrior cops. Videos of white shirted NYC cops (Supervisors) assaulting unarmed & nonthreatening protesters did not provoke the same reaction in the American people as the water hoses and dogs of Bull Connor & the Birmingham Police.
We are not free if we cannot peacefully protest in any meaningful way. From the start of Occupy it was obvious that Cops & Mayors were determined to marginalize it, mischaracterize it with disinformation, discredit it with plants & provocateurs, cut it off from the citizens and a more than compliant media, and burden it with harsh police tactics that should be used only against dangerous public disorder. Our media ignored & misrepresented what was happening and acted like stenographers for the government's PR people and ignored the heavy handed crushing of the movement.
When the Political Conventions commence, protests will be confined to "Free Speech Zones" placed far from any civic interaction or news coverage. Even Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was manhandled by cops at a Republican Convention while working miles from any convention activity.
A corporate press cannot serve democracy and we cannot be free without a free press. What a mess.
We are not free if we cannot peacefully protest in any meaningful way. From the start of Occupy it was obvious that Cops & Mayors were determined to marginalize it, mischaracterize it with disinformation, discredit it with plants & provocateurs, cut it off from the citizens and a more than compliant media, and burden it with harsh police tactics that should be used only against dangerous public disorder. Our media ignored & misrepresented what was happening and acted like stenographers for the government's PR people and ignored the heavy handed crushing of the movement.
When the Political Conventions commence, protests will be confined to "Free Speech Zones" placed far from any civic interaction or news coverage. Even Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was manhandled by cops at a Republican Convention while working miles from any convention activity.
A corporate press cannot serve democracy and we cannot be free without a free press. What a mess.
20
It is not because of technology. It is because the ruling class has got the point where they bought just about everything, particularly the government and the press.
11
Technology is an enabler, but the problem is an oligarchy.
A corporate Press is largely worthless which is why most adults below retirement age do not watch it. That is why they are trying to rope in the Internet.
A corporate Press is largely worthless which is why most adults below retirement age do not watch it. That is why they are trying to rope in the Internet.
3
Freedom is mobility and its constraints are bounded by food, shelter and clothing. In short, the ability to keep oneself alive and in motion. The motion itself is relative to one's goals. It can be a journey, an exploration, a career, a home, a place. I equate freedom with a boat. It need not be large; a small one will do; so long as I can pack enough food and drink, I can go anywhere there is enough water to float in. Freedom may alternatively be a pair of healthy feet and good shoes. Either way, the world is open to those who can find a way to make the journey.
9
"Ways to be Free" indeed! It's often said that freedom should not be traded for security. Yet, that's one of those things that's easiest to say when one is relatively confident that they are safe. A person who truly believes their life is in danger will almost invariably compromise their own civil rights and freedoms (to say nothing of the freedoms of other people). Assuming you can't have both in their entirety (you can't, btw), would you rather be 'Free' from the fear of physical danger or 'Free' from fear government intrusion? [shrug]
Some are burdened by endless ethical/moral ambiguity and prefer an unchanging religious code of conduct. Others abhor the thought of having their morality dictated from an external source. [shrug] Would you rather be a "free from sin" and its influences or "free from religious imposition" on your personal choices? There's no objectively right answer. It goes on... A huge paycheck may grant you freedom from want, but enslave you to your job. A released prisoner may be able to move about, yet society may lock them out of most opportunities going forward. Social media may ensure freedom of expression on historically unprecedented level... unless you're too busy on BuzzFeed.
This is all to say freedom is as much in the mind as it is physical or measured by socio-economic metrics. In that sense, societies may approach, but never ultimately obtain a state of freedom in the way the author seems to use the term.
Some are burdened by endless ethical/moral ambiguity and prefer an unchanging religious code of conduct. Others abhor the thought of having their morality dictated from an external source. [shrug] Would you rather be a "free from sin" and its influences or "free from religious imposition" on your personal choices? There's no objectively right answer. It goes on... A huge paycheck may grant you freedom from want, but enslave you to your job. A released prisoner may be able to move about, yet society may lock them out of most opportunities going forward. Social media may ensure freedom of expression on historically unprecedented level... unless you're too busy on BuzzFeed.
This is all to say freedom is as much in the mind as it is physical or measured by socio-economic metrics. In that sense, societies may approach, but never ultimately obtain a state of freedom in the way the author seems to use the term.
5
You are writing about freedom FROM; Mr. Cohen is writing about freedom TO. Different topics. Those of us from his generation or before regret the decline of freedom TO that has parents having to watch their children at the playground and has created a younger generation(of younger adults that is afraid of everything. It makes them a strange combination of timid and angry.
1
Hi @Andrea, I was trying to say that freedom "TO" and freedom "FROM" are not separable. Freedom to do something is only possible when one is free from interference. One is meaningless without the other. At the same time, the fact that people are free to do things makes it difficult for some others to be free from things. The raging debate about gun rights is an example. Some people like their guns (they just DO) and they point out that they are free to own them. Other people value freedom FROM guns (or gun violence, at least) more than the freedom to own them. Neither side really understands the other, so there's a conflict. Find me a freedom and there will always be a "freedom from" flipside.
1
Perhaps the risk-averseness you describe, Roger, has something to do with the cost of a college education and how that degree buys less and less.
A few years ago -- between my freshman and sophomore year in college -- I rode a bicycle from London to Istanbul, camping in soccer fields and churchyards the whole way. It cost peanuts compared to a semester at the university, but it's exactly the sort of thing I would NOT have done had I had student loan collectors breathing down my neck.
A few years ago -- between my freshman and sophomore year in college -- I rode a bicycle from London to Istanbul, camping in soccer fields and churchyards the whole way. It cost peanuts compared to a semester at the university, but it's exactly the sort of thing I would NOT have done had I had student loan collectors breathing down my neck.
19
Very true, though I think an even more pertinent factor is how much harder it is roll into town, find cheap accommodation and pick up some work, partly because those things are scarcer and partly because there's more bureaucracy and paper work involved than in the 70s. Everything is more regimented and codified, with less individual discretion and budgetary slack available to managers and landlords etc.
2
I remember in the early 1970s there was an older kid on the block that hitchhiked to California. It must have been exciting for him being from Long island and meeting people from places like Iowa and Utah along the way--enlightening as well. He stayed out there and never came back. I don't think today's young people can experience a thing lie that now.
4
In today's world, I can start a business and sell products to customers in China and Israel and Brazil... All without leaving my basement. I can also sample artists and writers from all over the world, where previously I could only sample works carried by my local bookstore or library. These are just two examples, but personal freedoms and choices are much MUCH broader today than ever before.
If you can't comprehend that, then maybe you had too cookies in Afghanistan.
If you can't comprehend that, then maybe you had too cookies in Afghanistan.
6
This is all so WHITE.
10
Wonderful piece as usual Roger but waxing nostalgic these days is painful, how did we allow our wonderful nation, full of hope and promise for all, to be taken over from within by the insidious little men rigging our economy, waging wars to further their agendas and yes stealing our freedom with the complicity of SCOTUS? This, of course, begs the next question; what can we do about it: I can only feel that many Americans have reached the same conclusion as I have and that is vote for change, vote for Bernie.
9
Our freedom...and our ability to protect our constitutional freedoms (plural)
are denied.....because We The People ...cannot have a vote that counts...
because
of the infamous law passed by the Roberts Court...that being Citizens United..
which stacks the votes soley in the hands of the richest .01 percent of our
electorate..
Bernie Sanders is correct....we are now an Oligarchy...and we are sinking
because ...We The People Are ...powerless to elect someone who is our
choice....it is that simple...Roger Cohen...and no other analysis is needed.
No obfuscation of the facts are necessary Roger...so let's just get the facts
out there...and perhaps our democracy can get back on track..
are denied.....because We The People ...cannot have a vote that counts...
because
of the infamous law passed by the Roberts Court...that being Citizens United..
which stacks the votes soley in the hands of the richest .01 percent of our
electorate..
Bernie Sanders is correct....we are now an Oligarchy...and we are sinking
because ...We The People Are ...powerless to elect someone who is our
choice....it is that simple...Roger Cohen...and no other analysis is needed.
No obfuscation of the facts are necessary Roger...so let's just get the facts
out there...and perhaps our democracy can get back on track..
5
Did you name Blaise after Pascal. if so, then kudos to you!
7
John said "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Today we live in a sea of disinformation, originated by the government and parroted by the press, and freedom is hard to find. If you want to be free you'd better question everything you hear.
5
"Technology increases choice, but its prime purpose is to increase productivity; that is the amount that can be extracted from you in any given time.
The intellectually curious can surf the internet for free, opening up door after door and window after window. entering into virtually unlimited expanses of creativity and knowledge.
Last night i learned how magnetism worked and then went on to read Marcus Aurelius' musings on wisdom. Then i watched David Bowie on You Tube.
Those who sputter and blab non stop like human steam engines and or pass on conspiracy theories and blog news made up by idiots or spend hours watching porno or violent games were always around.
At least now they're out from under their rocks where the light of day may work it's indomitable exorious power to enlighten.
The intellectually curious can surf the internet for free, opening up door after door and window after window. entering into virtually unlimited expanses of creativity and knowledge.
Last night i learned how magnetism worked and then went on to read Marcus Aurelius' musings on wisdom. Then i watched David Bowie on You Tube.
Those who sputter and blab non stop like human steam engines and or pass on conspiracy theories and blog news made up by idiots or spend hours watching porno or violent games were always around.
At least now they're out from under their rocks where the light of day may work it's indomitable exorious power to enlighten.
6
Freedom can be taken but it can never be granted.
One asserts one's freedom or one is not free nor even capable of enjoying the natural gift of freedom granted to every creature ever born onto this Earth.
I'm 63, grew up near a beach and surfed a bit, so I read Finnegan's book last year and I could relate to that experience.
I bought the Grateful Dead's first album when it hit the stores. Long-playing, *stereo* records were a brand new technology.
The experience of freedom goes far beyond the perfect wave, far beyond the flow state of the surfer in the tube, far beyond acid rock, far beyond the mundane, period.
Freedom is, ironically, a conservative meme.
Every liberal on Earth should be aghast at that statement, too.
Freedom is this: You decide your next move.
No one is going to be there to save you when you wipe out.
Sink or swim, baby...
Tyranny is not the path to economic justice.
Freedom is better, always, even if you're doomed to be poor...
One asserts one's freedom or one is not free nor even capable of enjoying the natural gift of freedom granted to every creature ever born onto this Earth.
I'm 63, grew up near a beach and surfed a bit, so I read Finnegan's book last year and I could relate to that experience.
I bought the Grateful Dead's first album when it hit the stores. Long-playing, *stereo* records were a brand new technology.
The experience of freedom goes far beyond the perfect wave, far beyond the flow state of the surfer in the tube, far beyond acid rock, far beyond the mundane, period.
Freedom is, ironically, a conservative meme.
Every liberal on Earth should be aghast at that statement, too.
Freedom is this: You decide your next move.
No one is going to be there to save you when you wipe out.
Sink or swim, baby...
Tyranny is not the path to economic justice.
Freedom is better, always, even if you're doomed to be poor...
5
What I appreciate about this reflection/musing is it looks at both possibilities: are there more freedoms to enjoy today, or fewer? And the examples on both sides are compelling and cogent. I like this because today's narratives are so often questions posed and responded to with black and white answers. "The world is worse. Period." As with most big picture questions like the one Mr. Cohen tackles here, the answers are complicated and found somewhere in the nuance and point of view.
5
Funny, I was 17 and entering the U.S. Naval Academy about the same time and learned a lot about freedom as well. I always flash back to the Alistair Cooke quote "Liberty is the luxury of self-discipline",
2
Liberal statists have been taught to fear freedom since before the Reagan days. Freedom means freedom for the little people, too, and the Left hates that.
The first thing liberals are taught is that THEY know so much more than THOSE people that government must stand over the little people to guide their lives. Meanwhile, of course, liberals should always be exempted from government things like DWI laws, Obamacare, military service, and paying taxes on time.
And why do we STILL let those outsiders go to church and own guns, anyway?
No, freedom is the antithesis of how the liberal looks at society. Government always knows better. Here's your approved car, here's your light bulbs, here's you toilet, and here's where you can live.
The first thing liberals are taught is that THEY know so much more than THOSE people that government must stand over the little people to guide their lives. Meanwhile, of course, liberals should always be exempted from government things like DWI laws, Obamacare, military service, and paying taxes on time.
And why do we STILL let those outsiders go to church and own guns, anyway?
No, freedom is the antithesis of how the liberal looks at society. Government always knows better. Here's your approved car, here's your light bulbs, here's you toilet, and here's where you can live.
5
Hogwash. Your Republicans were bribed by corporations and the super-rich to allow tax-free investment in China. That’s where the jobs went. Your opinion matters little in Congress, only the super-rich and corporations control legislation now.
America, you are slaves living in an oligarchy. Democracy is dead.
America, you are slaves living in an oligarchy. Democracy is dead.
10
L'OsservatoreA
You really do not understand us liberals do you. Freedom to a progressive liberal means that every person deserves to be free from worry about providing the basic necessities of life for themselves and their family. It means that everyone deserves to be free from the fear of medical bankruptcy. It means that someone working a full time job shouldn't have to decide whether to pay the rent or put nutritious food on the table. It means that if you lose said job, it is relatively easy and painless to find another, and that you don't end up homeless as a result. It means being free from the worry and constant strategizing that it takes to live paycheck to paycheck, as most working Americans do. It means there is a safety net to help through tough times, or if you are not physically able to work due to disability or illness.
It means the freedom from fear that your kids will be gunned down in the street for no reason, the freedom of knowing that the color of your skin, or your clothes, or your accent, or your gender, will not make you a target for abuse, whether from police or other citizens.
It means the freedom that comes from knowing that when a disaster hits, whether natural (Katrina) or manmade (Flint), those with the power to help will take action immediately.
In short, it means being free from oppression in any form, political, religious, or corporate.
You really do not understand us liberals do you. Freedom to a progressive liberal means that every person deserves to be free from worry about providing the basic necessities of life for themselves and their family. It means that everyone deserves to be free from the fear of medical bankruptcy. It means that someone working a full time job shouldn't have to decide whether to pay the rent or put nutritious food on the table. It means that if you lose said job, it is relatively easy and painless to find another, and that you don't end up homeless as a result. It means being free from the worry and constant strategizing that it takes to live paycheck to paycheck, as most working Americans do. It means there is a safety net to help through tough times, or if you are not physically able to work due to disability or illness.
It means the freedom from fear that your kids will be gunned down in the street for no reason, the freedom of knowing that the color of your skin, or your clothes, or your accent, or your gender, will not make you a target for abuse, whether from police or other citizens.
It means the freedom that comes from knowing that when a disaster hits, whether natural (Katrina) or manmade (Flint), those with the power to help will take action immediately.
In short, it means being free from oppression in any form, political, religious, or corporate.
1
Roger this is all too true and even more so than you say. It appears to me that Americans are terrified of risk. A society where people are too scared to trust each other cannot survive. It looks to me like the end of the American experiment.
A couple of days ago I came back from 3 weeks of Buddhist retreat in the mountains of California. It felt like descending into hell. In the airports and train stations there were hordes of soldiers and heavily armed police of various sorts. The airport security had tightened up enough so that I was hardly able to get home. It looked like the whole country had gone nuts. Apparently it is because a couple of Muslim psychos shot some people. I mean psychos shooting people is so common it is becoming the American way of life, but if a couple of them happen to be Muslims the country panics.
When I got back to New York I was relieved to find that people were still normal. But New York is not America. From news reports and anecdotal evidence it looks to me that most of the country is far gone.
As I have been saying for some time the 9/11 terrorists won. America is too terrified to function. But the victory wasn't really theirs. It was handed to them by our government, which decided to hype the fear in order to control us and take away our freedoms. I guess we are about half way down the slope to slavery by now.
A couple of days ago I came back from 3 weeks of Buddhist retreat in the mountains of California. It felt like descending into hell. In the airports and train stations there were hordes of soldiers and heavily armed police of various sorts. The airport security had tightened up enough so that I was hardly able to get home. It looked like the whole country had gone nuts. Apparently it is because a couple of Muslim psychos shot some people. I mean psychos shooting people is so common it is becoming the American way of life, but if a couple of them happen to be Muslims the country panics.
When I got back to New York I was relieved to find that people were still normal. But New York is not America. From news reports and anecdotal evidence it looks to me that most of the country is far gone.
As I have been saying for some time the 9/11 terrorists won. America is too terrified to function. But the victory wasn't really theirs. It was handed to them by our government, which decided to hype the fear in order to control us and take away our freedoms. I guess we are about half way down the slope to slavery by now.
25
Right, on, Ed! Quite obviously the eighteen year old Afghans weren't driving VWs or anything on wheels except pulled by four legs to explore Oxbridge and the Lake Country. Ah, to be young and privileged. Argh to getting older and having no perspective.
2
I hope the author realizes that about 70 percent of the American population and about 90 percent of the world’s population would want to slug him in the face after reading this.
8
So, you think most people are unthinking animals? I think you're projecting...
6
Why is that?
6
WHY? I've no such inclination. I seriously doubt that anyone who reads this piece closely would feel the same as you.
2
I was a child in Afghanistan in 1973, wondering what was up with the long-haired Anglos trekking around like it was cool. They looked so out of place, and it always struck me as a somewhat self-indulgent foray that romanticized backwardness and extreme poverty, when it fact it was a reflection of a certain level of privilege unimaginable to most locals.
I remember American travelers telling us how "beautiful" and "interesting" everything was, whereas to us (I am half Swedish, half Afghan, and we spent eight years in Kabul), it was a place where you had to avoid typhoid, cholera, rabies, and a host of deadly and un-named diseases; where leprosy was rampant and children without noses or fingers stared at my well-groomed, intact self; and famine was everywhere. We lived very comfortably, but with a deep awareness of the misery right outside the door, which we mingled with as a matter of routine.
Funny to think Cohen came through while I was there. We are often on the same wavelength, based on what he tends to write. But there is a certain kind of Westerner who sees the wretchedness of the Third World as romantic, and who searches for the deep meaning of the culture and its general backwardness. Trust me: there isn't any.
I remember American travelers telling us how "beautiful" and "interesting" everything was, whereas to us (I am half Swedish, half Afghan, and we spent eight years in Kabul), it was a place where you had to avoid typhoid, cholera, rabies, and a host of deadly and un-named diseases; where leprosy was rampant and children without noses or fingers stared at my well-groomed, intact self; and famine was everywhere. We lived very comfortably, but with a deep awareness of the misery right outside the door, which we mingled with as a matter of routine.
Funny to think Cohen came through while I was there. We are often on the same wavelength, based on what he tends to write. But there is a certain kind of Westerner who sees the wretchedness of the Third World as romantic, and who searches for the deep meaning of the culture and its general backwardness. Trust me: there isn't any.
74
It is certainly true that poverty is not romantic but I don't think that Roger ever said so. I don't think that any culture is entirely without merit. I know that even Afghanistan produced some great musicians. But even if there was someplace that was totally worthless I think it would be interesting to see it.
6
My late mother, a child of the Great Depression, constantly reiterated to her children that "Poverty isn't noble, and money isn't character." With that in mind, would you have preferred the 17-year-old Cohen and his ilk to be condescending and judgmental toward the Aghanis?
No doubt about it that Cohen was indeed privileged to have had the experiences that he did, and saw some of it through the rose-tinted glasses of youth. But the fact that he used his privilege to explore the unfamiliar and to seek beauty in the unknown, particularly when he probably could have spent the summer on some beach living La Vida Loca, does not mean that he was insensitive or ignorant to the poverty he witnessed, and at the same time, ask himself why he had been inexplicably blessed to have been exempted from it.
No doubt about it that Cohen was indeed privileged to have had the experiences that he did, and saw some of it through the rose-tinted glasses of youth. But the fact that he used his privilege to explore the unfamiliar and to seek beauty in the unknown, particularly when he probably could have spent the summer on some beach living La Vida Loca, does not mean that he was insensitive or ignorant to the poverty he witnessed, and at the same time, ask himself why he had been inexplicably blessed to have been exempted from it.
5
All that freedom and leisure time, a vast epic vista of possibilities... And we're supposed to admire or wax nostalgic about someone cashing in those opportunities to get high in Afghanistan.
Well done, Roger. You've eloquently explained yet again why every other generation sneers at boomers with contempt. Yours is/was/remains the most wasteful generation in US history. So many possibilities at your disposal, and so few meaningful acts that didn't stroke your own narcissistic egos.
Well done, Roger. You've eloquently explained yet again why every other generation sneers at boomers with contempt. Yours is/was/remains the most wasteful generation in US history. So many possibilities at your disposal, and so few meaningful acts that didn't stroke your own narcissistic egos.
3
Freedom really complicates the way government watches over us like a kindly grandmother nursing a terrible hangover. Mr. Sanders might take this mountain of personal info that has been collected to direct people to where they should look for housing, work, or even cars.
The liberals Who Mean So Well spent much of the past twenty years limiting our inconvenient choices, but it is time now to get serious.
The liberals Who Mean So Well spent much of the past twenty years limiting our inconvenient choices, but it is time now to get serious.
Holding up "wandering around in other cultures or countries having experiences" as being the ultimate in life is silly. So were the North American travelers in those days.
2
LUCKY LUCKY BLAISE! The generation who explored the world with open arms has taught our children to fear and to judge and to be silent co-conspiraors in the diminishing of our humanity.
Thanks for the memories!
Take your dad's suggestion and - Run Blaise, run. See Blaise run to that car or jeep or use his thumb. It is an amazing world!
Thanks for the memories!
Take your dad's suggestion and - Run Blaise, run. See Blaise run to that car or jeep or use his thumb. It is an amazing world!
4
Freedom is for the people who can manage to remain unafraid, through shear will, or ignorance. It would not be easy in this day and age. Freedom costs more than it used to cost. VW Kombi's can still be had. They are still under-powered and hot. Of course, people have changed too. Strangers have had their illusions shattered, their faith tested. Some of them even chant "Death to America" now. The world has grown and continues to live by the axiom "All good things must be ruined". Your "Free World" has been ruined in the name of progress.
3
Freedom? That's a laugh. We have gotten entangled in our own web, a web of our making, a web from which we cannot seem to extricate ourselves any longer. Real Freedom has gotten obsolete and we only have ourselves to blame.
3
January 21 2016
A faith dynamic navigates the life cycle journey for: light, spirit, and basic necessities like in especially filing taxes. Of course the legality of our loving bonds eternal requires proper language adapting to culture's living times; as well towards the very nurture for preserving liberty of mind's individuality balanced by collective community appreciation::::
with challenges to the status quo deemed right to protect and celebrate. That's an American world view and just as the Syrians thrown out of their homeland of ancestry - ( some of us / nations require maturation on the world stage and ways to tolerate the will of grace so that others can feel connected to joy will on earth.
jja Manhattan, N.Y.
A faith dynamic navigates the life cycle journey for: light, spirit, and basic necessities like in especially filing taxes. Of course the legality of our loving bonds eternal requires proper language adapting to culture's living times; as well towards the very nurture for preserving liberty of mind's individuality balanced by collective community appreciation::::
with challenges to the status quo deemed right to protect and celebrate. That's an American world view and just as the Syrians thrown out of their homeland of ancestry - ( some of us / nations require maturation on the world stage and ways to tolerate the will of grace so that others can feel connected to joy will on earth.
jja Manhattan, N.Y.
2
The balance has always been between freedom and responsibility. An 18 year old has some of the former and as he gets old, he gets more of the latter. It was true then and it is still true today. A full schedule gives a sixty year old purpose, that's more than most can say about freedom.
3
Too much Google Earth? I don't think so. It's too much unchecked madness and cruelty on the Earth that Google has mapped. I hardly blame Google for that. As for technology, without it I would not have read this thoughtful, satisfying column in the first place. Thank you, Mr. Cohen.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
www.endthemadnessnow.org
2
you can always ride a bike.
2
The Internet bestows new freedoms (I’m availing myself of one right now), but it also takes away some old ones. It has made instant contact and the possibility of surveillance a default condition of life. Being on one’s own has become one that it needs a special effort to achieve.
2
Family social freedoms will be completely lost unless American voters stop the evolving sexual transformation of the family. Today "Common Cause" is approved and passed into law codifying debauchery and sodomy rendering traditional family, children, and free speech with no hope.
This sound very much like the pretty typical musings of any aging person - with a little bit of pop-psychology mixed in.
As a teenager, our family of four made a six week "safari" in a VW Camper Van through southern Africa - South Africa, the two Rhodesia's, the Belgian Congo, Angola and back to South West Africa. The freedom to do that safely is certainly gone today.
On the other hand, young people can now travel through eastern Europe, something which was impossible in my youth. And one can now explore the vastness of China with relative freedom, again something unheard of in my youth.
So, certainly young people can still have the freedom of adventures, but now, as then, you have to pick and choose where it is safe. The three young people who went hiking in Iraq (or was it Afghanistan?) and ended up prisoners in Iran, in today's world, were being extremely foolish.
So, Mr. Cohen, let's not get too maudlin. Every generation, as it ages, feels that the "good old days" are gone, but the next generation always seems to find some worthwhile adventures.
As a teenager, our family of four made a six week "safari" in a VW Camper Van through southern Africa - South Africa, the two Rhodesia's, the Belgian Congo, Angola and back to South West Africa. The freedom to do that safely is certainly gone today.
On the other hand, young people can now travel through eastern Europe, something which was impossible in my youth. And one can now explore the vastness of China with relative freedom, again something unheard of in my youth.
So, certainly young people can still have the freedom of adventures, but now, as then, you have to pick and choose where it is safe. The three young people who went hiking in Iraq (or was it Afghanistan?) and ended up prisoners in Iran, in today's world, were being extremely foolish.
So, Mr. Cohen, let's not get too maudlin. Every generation, as it ages, feels that the "good old days" are gone, but the next generation always seems to find some worthwhile adventures.
12
My daughter recently took a six-month sabbatical from her job and spent it exploring parts of Europe and Southeast Asia. She certainly enjoyed better travel and living accommodations than Cohen did in the 1970s, but she still made her trip without the aid of tour guides or travel agents. Every generation faces different challenges on such expeditions. Mr. Cohen may think he 'roughed it' on his trip, but to the travelers of Mark Twain's day his foray into the unknown would not have appeared to be daring.
The current generation inhabits a world that wraps it in more security while also exposing its members to greater dangers than the baby boomers faced. We expend immense sums to make products safer and to develop technology that protects our homes and persons. At the same time, despite a falling crime rate, parents fear to let their children roam the neighborhood alone, much less travel into a city unescorted.
Today, therefore, an assertion of freedom, a declaration of independence, might involve a trip abroad while still tethered to home by a cell phone. A sense of freedom does not depend on the absence of technology. It stems from the individual's realization that she can make her own choices, lead her own life. Whether in the technologically primitive days of Mark Twain or in our own age, the possibility of that sense of liberation still exists.
The current generation inhabits a world that wraps it in more security while also exposing its members to greater dangers than the baby boomers faced. We expend immense sums to make products safer and to develop technology that protects our homes and persons. At the same time, despite a falling crime rate, parents fear to let their children roam the neighborhood alone, much less travel into a city unescorted.
Today, therefore, an assertion of freedom, a declaration of independence, might involve a trip abroad while still tethered to home by a cell phone. A sense of freedom does not depend on the absence of technology. It stems from the individual's realization that she can make her own choices, lead her own life. Whether in the technologically primitive days of Mark Twain or in our own age, the possibility of that sense of liberation still exists.
8
Hey Roger--maybe you and your son can team up and go on the CBS reality show The Amazing Race. That's the closest thing that passes for a no strings trip around the world these days.
This reminds me of two books talking about aviation I read recently. In "Jet Age," former NYTimes reporter Sam Howe Verhovek chronicles the tragic succces of the British in the race to put the first passenger jet in service. The De Havilland Comet won but kept crashing out of midair. Yet it kept going up with a full compliment of passengers, only to once again fall out of the sky. VanHovek goes to some pains to explain how this is possible to a 21st century audience, telling us that in the 1950s air travel was considered risky and it was expected a certain number of people would die doing it.
The second book is "One Summer" by Bill Bryson about 1927. The biggest of the many events of that season was Lindbergh's solo flight from New York to Paris. But before he made it, many died or were maimed trying, some never getting off the ground, others simply disappearing over the Atlantic. Yet they kept trying and no one questioned their sanity, as would certainly be the case now.
Something is certainly gained terms of respect for life that we see in our overly security-conscious society of today. But something is certainly lost as well. We are all going to die. Is it better to go out at 37 like George Mallory near the top of Everest; or at 102 in a nursing home?
The second book is "One Summer" by Bill Bryson about 1927. The biggest of the many events of that season was Lindbergh's solo flight from New York to Paris. But before he made it, many died or were maimed trying, some never getting off the ground, others simply disappearing over the Atlantic. Yet they kept trying and no one questioned their sanity, as would certainly be the case now.
Something is certainly gained terms of respect for life that we see in our overly security-conscious society of today. But something is certainly lost as well. We are all going to die. Is it better to go out at 37 like George Mallory near the top of Everest; or at 102 in a nursing home?
4
This article resonated with me a great deal. As a child of the 80's (born in 74) I always felt a level of connection to those days of freer adventure, travel and thought if only because the echos of that still rang loud as I was growing up. Through the last 20 years those echos have become fainter, yet it feels like it happened so gradually it takes moments of reflection, or an article such as this to remind me that I haven't done anything like that since I was a kid, and this adult world is different than the "adult world" I remember observing as a child. I remember aimless roadtrips and camping trips, roadside tourist traps fondly. I hope I am disciplined enough to take time away from the GPS, google map, yelp, facebook world Roger aptly describes to give some of those experiences to my 5 and 3 year old sons.
4
But, you Roger, are part of the problem.
You are part of worldwide journalism. And the facts just aren't as reliably reported as they once were.
True, there were fewer facts reported, but more reliably reported.
And when we can't rely upon what we read in the news, we become fearful.
And fearfulness, limits one's ability to take risk, limits ones ability to perceive and realize freedom and liberty.
Fifteen years after, 9/11, the material facts of what occurred that day, still have not been reported.
And journalism snowballed into a morass of mush thereafter.
The result of which, is a less free world.
You are part of worldwide journalism. And the facts just aren't as reliably reported as they once were.
True, there were fewer facts reported, but more reliably reported.
And when we can't rely upon what we read in the news, we become fearful.
And fearfulness, limits one's ability to take risk, limits ones ability to perceive and realize freedom and liberty.
Fifteen years after, 9/11, the material facts of what occurred that day, still have not been reported.
And journalism snowballed into a morass of mush thereafter.
The result of which, is a less free world.
3
Back in the seventies, I, too, set off on wild adventures during my college years. There were no cellphones back then, so my parents weren't able to warn me about dangers that I, as a young woman, didn't anticipate or fear. The numerous scrapes I got into helped build, as all good adventures must, character and resilience.
My advice to young Blaise is this: leave your cell phone home.
My advice to young Blaise is this: leave your cell phone home.
4
Well freedom is a beautiful idea. It depends who you are. White kids and a girl can enjoy all the freedom in the world anywhere. I remember hippies coming from Europe, travelling to Afghanistan from Iran/Pakistan during summer, drugs were cheaper there and no one bothered.
But if you were a black kid in America, or were from a 3rd world country, freedom was scarce. Civil rights! Colonial subjugation!
But if you were a black kid in America, or were from a 3rd world country, freedom was scarce. Civil rights! Colonial subjugation!
7
I was born in the least free country in the world: the USSR. My mother risked jail time by reading Orwell's "1984" which I can now access in 10 seconds on my iPad. I traveled to, and lived in, countries which to my parents would be as inaccessible as Mars. So I have no nostalgia for the good old days - rather, I envy my own kids who have grown with the Internet from day one. Freedom is choice and responsibility - and we now have the freedom of only taking on those responsibilities we choose from an almost unimaginable plethora of options. You don't have to have a family or a steady job if you don't want to. You can travel to Patagonia, or write poetry, or found a start-up. You can fail and move to your mother's basement and then start again. The problem is, though, that many people are psychologically unequipped for freedom. They long for a pastor to tell them what to think, a boss to tell them how to work, and a leader to tell them what to do.
51
I am perplexed that people with the leisure and means to look for the "freedom dream" always search out dictatorships or otherwise socially backward and repressive societies. Countries that enslave others, repress women, have a caste system and/or do not give their children free elementary education should be on every thinking person's banned list. And here we're not only talking about Asia and Africa, but China as well. The money these governments get from visa sales build a lot of villas for the nomenclatura. Thank you, but I'd rather find freedom in my head and heart than in such places.
8
That just made my day. Thanks Roger.
4
Your son and Finnegan are correct, notwithstanding your points regarding the demise of more overtly totalitarian world regimes. These totalitarian regimes were the failed alternatives to market capitalism (has anyone noticed the plight of the western worker since the failing of socialism?)
Yes freedom and risk are inseparable (see the "Grand Inquisitor," excerpt from the Brothers Karamozov). I am from your generation and will not recount any of my adventures here, suffice it to say that I would be damned to admonish my children to travel my youthful exploits of sowing wild oats. Look at our educational system and it's gutting of the Arts.
Yes, fear and freedom are diametrically opposed, mutually exclusive. That is what we are teaching today.
Yes freedom and risk are inseparable (see the "Grand Inquisitor," excerpt from the Brothers Karamozov). I am from your generation and will not recount any of my adventures here, suffice it to say that I would be damned to admonish my children to travel my youthful exploits of sowing wild oats. Look at our educational system and it's gutting of the Arts.
Yes, fear and freedom are diametrically opposed, mutually exclusive. That is what we are teaching today.
2
Sadly, freedom is something INSIDE you nowadays. In our "connected" world, everybody is monitoring you, what you're watching, whom your talking with on the phone, whom you're e-mailing. And, to make it worse, if you're a group demonized by a political party, whether here, in Russia, or elsewhere, you can be arrested, tortured, have your economic options limited, or even poisoned by malign neglect (look at the population of Flint, Michigan).
It was always so, and this is why Anne Frank's book is so important. Even in the semi-imprisonment of the "hidden annex," her developing mind and spirit had room to wander, albeit only to a paper diary.
It was always so, and this is why Anne Frank's book is so important. Even in the semi-imprisonment of the "hidden annex," her developing mind and spirit had room to wander, albeit only to a paper diary.
4
Roger offers a challenge to his readers: find an opinion in this opinion editorial.
2
Too often freedom is defined only as freedom from government controls. It ignores cultural, religious and most important economic controls. An example id the ranking by the Heritage foundation that represents Hong Kong and Singapore as the free est countries in the world neither of which is democratic and the claim is based on market ideology which of course ignores that markets are for the most part controlled by the wealthy. Ask most single mothers in twelfth ranked US how much freedom they have or an atheist in the bible belt. If you are homeless you are free to freeze in the cold and do without food. Economic freedom of choice only works if you have money and getting money is usually controlled by those who have the most. We need a braoder more multidimensional description of freedom other wise it just becomes a tool for propaganda. Example the american revolution is often described on the basis of freedom which in regard to getting rid of an external ruler is true. Most Americans tend to think of it on a much broader basis even though no more had the right to vote, had no greater personal freedoms or rights and they were taxed more heavily after the revolution.
8
Oh, for the return of the $99 standby to Europe on Pan Am, TWA... Oh, for the return of Pan Am. Oh, for the return of making a flight just as they were pulling up the gangplank and locking the hatch.
Oh, for the return of payphones and postcards.
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a used book at The Strand. Stuck in the pages was a postcard with a 1969 postmark on it. A woman had written to her friend about a gig she got in NY. The sight of the card, the tactile-ness of it in my hand... I almost cried. I considered looking up the name of the addressee on the Net, decided to let it go.
Patagonia. 1975. A friend and I got on a plane to Santiago. We were going to climb in The Andes. My friend immediately met a girl in Santiago. End of climbing The Andes. I caught a bus south, began hiking. Crossed into Argentina. Hiked all the way to Tierra del Fuego. 1200 miles. No phone/camera/4G/wi-fi/apps/GPS. Just me and the world. As they say these days about trivial pleasantries, it was awesome.
People are kind on the road. Nine out of ten, más o menos.
Oh, for the return of payphones and postcards.
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a used book at The Strand. Stuck in the pages was a postcard with a 1969 postmark on it. A woman had written to her friend about a gig she got in NY. The sight of the card, the tactile-ness of it in my hand... I almost cried. I considered looking up the name of the addressee on the Net, decided to let it go.
Patagonia. 1975. A friend and I got on a plane to Santiago. We were going to climb in The Andes. My friend immediately met a girl in Santiago. End of climbing The Andes. I caught a bus south, began hiking. Crossed into Argentina. Hiked all the way to Tierra del Fuego. 1200 miles. No phone/camera/4G/wi-fi/apps/GPS. Just me and the world. As they say these days about trivial pleasantries, it was awesome.
People are kind on the road. Nine out of ten, más o menos.
33
In the summer of 1977, I backpacked across the grizzly-populated Popo Agie wilderness of Wyoming. I was completely alone, trekking across wooded passes and through ice-scoured valleys. Toward the end of my hike, I had my one human encounter, a group of horsepacking hunters. I told my parents I was hiking with a friend. I hope my sons have the courage to lie in similar ways.
24
Roger, it’s a bit much to extoll the greater freedom of an earlier era by noting the exploits of an 18-year-old traveling through Iraq in a VW Combi over 40 years ago, just before he entered Oxford. Those exploits were about as representative of the typical American or European experience – or that of ANYbody ANYwhere – as humility in a pronounced liberal. I’m three months older than Roger, and when he was enjoying that cave beside the lakes of Band-e-Amir on his 18th birthday, I was still earning money and preparing for my freshman matriculation not at Oxford but at Occidental (L.A.), which I’d suggest was FAR more representative of the solid-to-upper-middle-classes of the time. And hardly emblematic of a more intensely felt freedom than today’s.
As long as we’re not actually battling a major recession, and then for only that long, I’d suggest that the sense of freedom felt by MOST very young Americans has been about the same since the mid-sixties, or for the past 50 years, as a result of the general prosperity that our parents knew after WWII and that they shared with us.
It’s probably still possible to have adventures when young similar to Roger’s, particularly if you have money, as youth hostels have increased a lot in cost over the past 40 years; but the venues open to such rambles are fewer, given the war footing on which much of the world finds itself.
Instead of Kandahar, one might need to be satisfied with Taos. But Taos is pretty cool, too.
As long as we’re not actually battling a major recession, and then for only that long, I’d suggest that the sense of freedom felt by MOST very young Americans has been about the same since the mid-sixties, or for the past 50 years, as a result of the general prosperity that our parents knew after WWII and that they shared with us.
It’s probably still possible to have adventures when young similar to Roger’s, particularly if you have money, as youth hostels have increased a lot in cost over the past 40 years; but the venues open to such rambles are fewer, given the war footing on which much of the world finds itself.
Instead of Kandahar, one might need to be satisfied with Taos. But Taos is pretty cool, too.
14
Cohen isn't saying his experience was representative. He wasn't American, either. Plus, it was possible to trek Afghanistan even if you weren't going to Oxford. He is mourning a time where you could genuinely disconnect from your home and your parents, who could not reach you at all as there was no WiFi, no cell phone, and no expectation of constantly keeping in touch and posting Facebook updates about where you are and what you're doing. That is truly gone today. If not a lack of freedom, it certainly indicates a lack of independence and the resilience it creates.
11
Freedom has always been reserved for the right people in the right place at the right time. Certainly being black in Apartheid South Africa was about as bad as being Chinese during the Cultural Revolution, an East German in Berlin or a peasant in Vietnam in the same era. White Americans had it pretty good at the time, unless you were draft age and might find yourself in a jungle halfway around the world, killing peasants, or in Canada.
While billions are still confined to some place or other by economic circumstances, the world is undeniably more free than in 1973. Two billion people are no longer captive behind a totalitarian wall in China, USSR or its satellites, cut off from all information about the world beyond.
Driving across Iran or Afghanistan is no longer possible, (I'm not so sure about encouraging your kid to drive through parts of Central America these days) but traveling throughout the rest of Asia is an opportunity to see some very old and different cultures.
But the greatest lack of freedom is that which we impose upon ourselves through a lack of curiosity about other places and other people.
While billions are still confined to some place or other by economic circumstances, the world is undeniably more free than in 1973. Two billion people are no longer captive behind a totalitarian wall in China, USSR or its satellites, cut off from all information about the world beyond.
Driving across Iran or Afghanistan is no longer possible, (I'm not so sure about encouraging your kid to drive through parts of Central America these days) but traveling throughout the rest of Asia is an opportunity to see some very old and different cultures.
But the greatest lack of freedom is that which we impose upon ourselves through a lack of curiosity about other places and other people.
21
I am touched by this article, because, as a contemporary of Mr. Cohen's, it reminds me of those times in my own life when I have been there on the 'threshold of freedom'. I am grateful to have had those adventurous moments of bursting forth into life, come what may! It must be much more difficult for young people in these times, but still, now, the possibility is there--has to be there...Do it, Blaise!
3
Unless there's been some very recent road building, no one drives through the Panama jungle to Colombia, especially not a gringo kid. There may be a trail or two that's passable now and then, if drug dealers allow it.
1
That crimpedness - that's religion you're feeling. Those groups who hear voices and think that gives them the right to tell others what to do. That fear - that's capitalism you hear. Fear sells clicks, eyes, the only thing worth having, right? The almighty dollar. That crushing pressure? That is as old as serfdom. We await our Magna Carta nobles to expand our world at least to a few percent outside the .1%. We want restoration of our Reformation values of democracy, and We the People. Time to stop pondering, time to meet at the figurative barricades, before it comes to meeting at real ones.
4
The possibility of a person having freedom in the modern world?
I cannot recall ever having felt free except under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Certainly I have never felt freedom in any spatial sense--which is to say I have been aware from an early age that many people occupy the planet and that the ocean and land are polluted and that remote places are rare and generally uninhabitable unless you have wealth and that the wealthy themselves are often free spatially only on private property which they are conscious of always needing to protect...In short, I have never known any space truly my own.
This leaves only an internal or developmental freedom, a freedom within time to call my own. But again, here no luck at all for me. I have had rare glimpses of freedom when I write or play music, but mostly I get the impression that parents and schooling and society would have preferred I either be mediocre or successful in some way which apparently exists, because there are successful people, but which I cannot fathom...
Maybe I should take advice from our Presidents of the U.S. though: Realize I have only fear to fear and ask not what my country can do for me. Or perhaps I should be sure not to be derelict in duty. But I am really beginning to believe I am defective in pivoting. Obama speaks of pivoting a lot and recently a Mr. Weissbourd, a senior lecturer at Harvard's school of education, spoke of a pivot point on education. Perhaps I should learn to swivel my hips.
I cannot recall ever having felt free except under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Certainly I have never felt freedom in any spatial sense--which is to say I have been aware from an early age that many people occupy the planet and that the ocean and land are polluted and that remote places are rare and generally uninhabitable unless you have wealth and that the wealthy themselves are often free spatially only on private property which they are conscious of always needing to protect...In short, I have never known any space truly my own.
This leaves only an internal or developmental freedom, a freedom within time to call my own. But again, here no luck at all for me. I have had rare glimpses of freedom when I write or play music, but mostly I get the impression that parents and schooling and society would have preferred I either be mediocre or successful in some way which apparently exists, because there are successful people, but which I cannot fathom...
Maybe I should take advice from our Presidents of the U.S. though: Realize I have only fear to fear and ask not what my country can do for me. Or perhaps I should be sure not to be derelict in duty. But I am really beginning to believe I am defective in pivoting. Obama speaks of pivoting a lot and recently a Mr. Weissbourd, a senior lecturer at Harvard's school of education, spoke of a pivot point on education. Perhaps I should learn to swivel my hips.
2
Daniel I'm sorry you don't feel free. Freedom is in the mind and so is its opposite. You should take a lesson from William Blake:
Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.
Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.
3
Daniel I realized I should have quoted the whole poem.
London
BY WILLIAM BLAKE
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear
How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse
In other words our culture is founded on repression, and we internalize it. Blake was an amazing Seer.
London
BY WILLIAM BLAKE
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear
How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls
But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse
In other words our culture is founded on repression, and we internalize it. Blake was an amazing Seer.
6
You always remember the first Big Trip you took, somewhere between adolescence and maturity. With a friend, but on your own, irresponsibly responsible for your own unexpected experiences, learning about yourself, unlearning about the world. You return unknowingly changed. And it will never be the same.
2
What a wonderful column. Freedom, indeed, is inseparable from risk - that's why you can still find it, as well you could 30 years ago, in the performing arts, as every time you step on stage, you might fail.
4
Wonderful column,........but I am amazed that Mr. Cohen didn't find some explanation that Israel somehow endangered his idea of "freedom"...Really a revelation for those who follow his columns......
2
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
Nothing ain't worth nothing but it's free."
- Kris Kristofferson 1969
"Freedom is inseparable from risk."
- Roger Cohen 2016
Welcome to 2016 and the financialization of everything.
Nothing ain't worth nothing but it's free."
- Kris Kristofferson 1969
"Freedom is inseparable from risk."
- Roger Cohen 2016
Welcome to 2016 and the financialization of everything.
3
The article says, "I think it’s that people are more frightened. Fear is a much-trafficked commodity."
I think there is merit in those statements.
Fear is a strange phenomenon. It can be both positive and negative. It can protect. It can irrationally limit and hinder.
Without the proper amount of fear one can destroy himself/herself.
With irrational fear one can hinder his/her own productivity and success.
Freedom, like fear, is also a strange phenomenon; and, like fear, can have both positive and negative consequences.
There is, however, a "spiritual freedom" of which many people have never heard:
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32 - - - The Holy Bible)
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36 - - - The Holy Bible)
I think there is merit in those statements.
Fear is a strange phenomenon. It can be both positive and negative. It can protect. It can irrationally limit and hinder.
Without the proper amount of fear one can destroy himself/herself.
With irrational fear one can hinder his/her own productivity and success.
Freedom, like fear, is also a strange phenomenon; and, like fear, can have both positive and negative consequences.
There is, however, a "spiritual freedom" of which many people have never heard:
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32 - - - The Holy Bible)
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36 - - - The Holy Bible)
2
When I was a kid, I used to spend every afternoon on empty lots or basketball courts playing with my friends. No parents, no adult supervision, no gadgets, nobody and nothing but me and my
friends. During summers, when I wasn’t away at camp, my mother used to give me a bologna sandwich, chips and a Coke plus carfare to go anywhere I wanted. Sometimes me and a friend would ride buses to the end of the line just to see what was there. I think we were free then in ways kids no longer are.
These days, I like being able to carry music around with me, but Facebook and Twitter and all of their offshoots seem stupid and time-wasting to me, and I have a very strong feeling that they are basically dumbed-down substitutes for the serious reading my friends and I used to do in the fifties and sixties.
Freedom ain’t free goes the expression, and I think technology as we know it today and from the direction it appears to be moving is as much a detriment to freedom as it is a benefit. Maybe even a greater detriment, than a benefit.
friends. During summers, when I wasn’t away at camp, my mother used to give me a bologna sandwich, chips and a Coke plus carfare to go anywhere I wanted. Sometimes me and a friend would ride buses to the end of the line just to see what was there. I think we were free then in ways kids no longer are.
These days, I like being able to carry music around with me, but Facebook and Twitter and all of their offshoots seem stupid and time-wasting to me, and I have a very strong feeling that they are basically dumbed-down substitutes for the serious reading my friends and I used to do in the fifties and sixties.
Freedom ain’t free goes the expression, and I think technology as we know it today and from the direction it appears to be moving is as much a detriment to freedom as it is a benefit. Maybe even a greater detriment, than a benefit.
27
Facebook and Twitter are data-mining tools. They aren't free, they are collecting your thoughts and actions and recording them to use and sell.
3
Facebook and Twitter sure ain't getting any information about me
unless they are getting it by way
of mental telepathy.
unless they are getting it by way
of mental telepathy.
4
Too bad there is nothing going on that is important enough to write a column about, eh Rog?
3
I'm 56. My whole childhood was shadowed by nuclear holocaust and population explosion, but I knew the freedom, which my son cannot now have. The missiles have not come, but the population explosion has. Freedom needs space to roam and its gone.
We long for it. Why do you think Star Wars is so popular; perfect. It is you and a friend saving the world. And you can always head for the Outer Rim.
We long for it. Why do you think Star Wars is so popular; perfect. It is you and a friend saving the world. And you can always head for the Outer Rim.
4
Freedom like happiness is an elation of spirit that comes upon us by surprise when we have a habit of doing the right things. Some examples are: Don't spend more than you earn; live on 80% of you income. Give away 10% and enjoy the other 10%; Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, and praise the Lord and pass the ammunition to protect freedom and happiness
Beautifully said. Right out of college I went to Europe and 17 countries for a year to explore the unknown by myself. And I was a girl. Was so important to think about who I was and what I wanted to pursue in life as a career before beginning that journey.
4
I like Roger Cohen. I often agree with him, but even when I don't, I enjoy his writing. And then there is this other facet - don't know if it is technophobia exactly - resulting in another column (to my recollection it is not the first) pining for the good old days when we weren't so networked. Roger, let me remind you, I just read this column thousands of miles away from where the NY Times is published, online, a feat that would not be possible without the 'net. You talk about isolation? But I'm able to use FaceTime to connect with relatives who are far away. Freedom? I have the ability to access audio books to help me exercise for health, an otherwise boring activity. When I am home-bound, not well and in pain, I have my iPad and can be read to, can have company, and have more freedom than I ever could have if I were not wired (or really, wirelessed). Not everyone can surf like Finnegan, but everyone (given a device, and donations of devices to the needy is a great idea, too) can surf the 'net. And if my kid were driving cross-country, you bet I'd like her to send me a whatsapp message every so often to let me know that she is OK.
2
I too had the dream of being a world traveler. In 1967-69 I taught in Laos with IVS. The trip over the Pacific allowed exploration of Tokyo and Hong Kong; vacations were spent in Cambodia, Thailand, India and Nepal; the trip back gave me a taste of Europe. The Delhi hotel served booze, lobster cost 1 cent on the beach in Cambodia (a can of butter was $20/kilo), the PanAm logo topped a big building in Bangkok. But I was unable to duplicate a friend's trip and drive to Europe. Those were the days.
We live in a different world today. The limits on freedom are much narrower today--schools do not impart the knowledge needed to test limits; police shootings are the result. Legal limits are much higher than they were in the past. Terrorism, drug wars and racial conflict are problems everywhere with the maybe exception of Australia and New Zealand.
The next generation will nowhere to test their limits except the ballot box and even that is questionable.
We live in a different world today. The limits on freedom are much narrower today--schools do not impart the knowledge needed to test limits; police shootings are the result. Legal limits are much higher than they were in the past. Terrorism, drug wars and racial conflict are problems everywhere with the maybe exception of Australia and New Zealand.
The next generation will nowhere to test their limits except the ballot box and even that is questionable.
5
Everyone is different. For one a drive to Patagonia satiates the spirit. Another finds this by staying home and painting, or fixing cars, or writing--or even working. Freedom has many forms for many people, not always the wandering hippie trek, not always the romantic escape to untouched country. Even that type of travel can be skewed as a type of 'status', more free than the next guy, enlightened, above. Blaise probably feels pressure to live up to his father's adventures. That expectation could be a trap in itself, the opposite of freedom. Freedom is personal, inward, cerebral, spiritual. It transforms through generations. A father's idea of freedom will not be his son's--in fact, maybe, that top-down, paternal disapproval of modern, connected, online culture may stifle and control a personal exploration a son desires.
45
This thought was also there as I considered what I wanted to write. Blaise can only really benefit from such an adventure if he is longing for it! The idea is to be willing to follow our heart with trust and totality, in whatever direction it takes us.
4
As much as I respect what you have opined, I have the sinking notion that society is moved by undercurrents not seen by all but as omniscient as cell phones. We are trading our freedom for bread, that is what we are teaching today.
2
Poignant, Roger.
I'm not sure it's that fear is pervasive so much as the fact that social media engenders constant, pervasive, ubiquitous opining.
It's too easy to speak opinions that are less thoughtful and more solipsistic, especially because education is lacking in depth and breadth and people can remain in their slanted thought silos.
I'm not sure it's that fear is pervasive so much as the fact that social media engenders constant, pervasive, ubiquitous opining.
It's too easy to speak opinions that are less thoughtful and more solipsistic, especially because education is lacking in depth and breadth and people can remain in their slanted thought silos.
5
This article particularly resonated with me: I wandered through Afghanistan in 1972, long-haired and high, traveling on local buses; I too once had an encounter with a wave that I finally escaped at the limits of strength and endurance, strangely unrebuked by how close to death I had come. The only 9 to 5 job I ever worked subsequently was a brief stint in an art museum. Where I strongly diverge from the narrative is that I counseled my twenty-something daughter to get her MBA, which she did, and to visit North Africa with a well-organized group. For better and for worse, the innocence we see in our rear-view mirrors is receding faster than we realize.
25
It's simple. Then we needed no visas. Now when we want to travel we face a bureaucratic rigmarole, advisories about the state of the way, and animosity because we treat the rest of the world so badly.
1
The philosophical cornerstone of 70's youth culture was, "Live and let live." Many cultures around the world accommodated that attitude. As population pressure and competition for resources has ramped up in the intervening years, respect for others has diminished and "danger consciousness" has increased. What used to be common courtesy is regarded as an outlyer. Who hitch hikes anymore?
2