The Fight For Freedom

Several things have occurred over the last couple of weeks that have caused me to reflect on the range of challenges we experience when basic freedoms are removed.?

My first freedom challenge came when I was ordered into 14 days of quarantine after becoming a COVID close contact - ironically as a result of going to my local medical centre to get my first vaccination dose. After 14 days and after delivering three negative COVID tests I was declared ‘free’ to re-join Sydney’s lockdown.

While quarantined, I read Michael J. Fox’s latest book, ‘No Time Like the Future’ - a captivating memoir about his 30 year journey with Parkinson’s disease and his constant, exhausting fight with an ailing body, and his diminishing freedoms.

Just last week, thousands of Afghan people sought to flee all they knew, confrontingly captured in the photo of hundreds of Afghans tightly-packed in a US Air Force carrier. The relief for those fortunate enough to be on that plane, and the feelings of devastation for those left behind, was a brutal reminder of the sometimes binary nature of freedom.

Until COVID-19, so many of us - most of us - had never had our freedoms challenged. I certainly hadn’t. And now, after 18 months of this wretched pandemic, the fight for freedom is becoming more and more exhausting for all of us.?

Many of us feel like we have “been pelted by too many lemons to even think about lemonade” (Michael J. Fox). While it doesn’t feel like the time to make lemonade, we should be trying to summon energy to pick a few lemons up and kick the rest away before they rot.?

Right now, each person will be at a different stage in their own fight for freedom. The struggles will have been different - from the loss of everyday freedoms - to larger challenges including damage or destruction to businesses, the separation of families, mental health challenges, and the loss of loved ones to COVID-19. Some fights have and will last longer than others, and the prize of freedom will be different. But regardless of your fight, it’s important that we acknowledge both our own fight and the fights experienced by others.

One of Michael J. Fox’s fights was to simply go to the bathroom without the assistance of someone else. My son’s fight to his final high-school exams this year will represent the disappointing end to what should have been a much more enjoyable year for him. For my frail mother, her fight is to see grandkids again. For those continuing to home school, they are fighting for that glorious day soon when kids return to school. The fight for freedom for those left in Afghanistan is also very real.?

And how do we fight? Our fight starts with what we can do, which for so many, exceeds the options available to so many others. For those of us in Australia, we are united by one fight for freedom, which is to end the current lockdown. We fight by staying at home, wearing a mask, getting vaccinated, checking-in on each other, physical activity, resting, and eating well. Some may fight by putting themselves on the line such as our front-line healthcare workers. Others undertake important gestures such as helping neighbours who live alone.?

In July, the UK celebrated Freedom Day, and I have since enjoyed seeing photos of near-normal summer activity in the northern hemisphere. For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, our summer of freedom is coming, I hope.

It is the beginning of Spring in Australia. May this spring bring new shoots to our lemon trees, and new vitality.

The fight for freedom is not a new concept. But this fight has become reality for many of us during the last 18 months that we haven’t anticipated. Let’s fight, because there really is ‘No Time Like the Future.’