One thing has driven ordinary people to extraordinary results through out history…FREEDOM. It has caused people to lose their lives in pursuit of it, flee their homelands in hopes of experiencing it, and make alliances that normally wouldn’t be made to achieve it. Why are people willing to put so much into the concept and idea of freedom? Freedom has caused people to realize the strength and resolve they have inside. Freedom has caused people to fight to survive in the midst of oppression and resistance. Freedom has lead every great change in society and created the best civilizations in the world, including America.

With the history of freedom, and the sacrifce that people are still making for freedom…Why are there some people voluntarily in bondage? Why would someone choose the comforts of slavery over the unpredictability of freedom? Why don’t people take every opportunity to be free? Everyday in America, people go to work in places they are not passionate about. Everyday in America, people put their passions aside to chase the “almighty dollar.” Everyday in America, people enslave their potential and barter their freedom for what seems comfortable. I call them the enslaved free.

Colleges and universities teach students to get a good job, work hard , and then retire. Some parents teach children from a young age to find a job so they can be “responsible” adults. Everything in our society encourages bondage, even though people don’t see it. You go to work to create “freedom”, so you think, when you are actually pushing yourself further into bondage if it is not what you are passionate about. What is true freedom? True freedom is pursuing what you are passionate about. True freedom is not based on money, it is based on opportunity and passion. Self inflicted bondage takes place when you voluntarily choose to stay in a place that you are not passionate about. Self inflicted bondage occurs when you realize you are so deep into the self enslavement that you cannot see how to get out. This bondage comes from working on a job and living above your means. You feel trapped and chained, and shackled! How do you turn it around!?

You must create an action plan to get free! You have got to focus on what you are passionate about and fight to go after it. You have got to put fear behind you. You have got to work towards your freedom! You have to realize that true freedom can only come when your full potential is released. Don’t enslave your potential. It may look more comfortable, but there will never be true security until you control your own destiny in life with God’s help. This comes through taking the necessary risks that you must take to make it happen. Fight for your freedom!

“You can’t separate peace from freedom, because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” -Malcolm X