A moment of deep thought in front of my morning class today as I confronted this statement in an essay by Chinua Achebe. I stopped and asked them what they thought about it. How can freedom be a "doom," which usually seems like such a negative thing?
I could have told them all sorts of things, because they looked quizzically and sleepily at me without seeming to care about the question. It was from a place closer to my heart than they know that I spoke:
"Think about all the voices asking, prodding, seducing you to do things, to believe things, to be a certain kind of person . . . and in every case, the possibility of a good choice comes with the peril of a wrong choice, and then there are those choices that you have to make where there are no good options, or choices where the outcome is so uncertain that you don't know how you'll pay.
"I'll tell you: it doesn't get easier or simpler as you get older; more is at stake, and there are even more restrictions on your options--but you still have to confront the burden of your own freedom.
Paging Mr. Donne and his Third Satire.
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