Elephant of Freedom

Ambiorn Happy
Fridag in Aarhus

Habituel: Gravity holds the elephant in a firm grib, close to the earth's well-covered table: the 200 kilos of leaves and grass that the elephant happily eats every day. Close to the hole that the elephant digs in the soft soil of the savannah, so deep that the water seeps out at the bottom. 300 liters of water every day, and the elephant is happy.

But floating in the sky like a hot air balloon, completely liberated and floating freely in whatever direction the wind takes you? The elephant looks skeptically at the balloon and thinks, "No, I'm free to eat and drink, that's enough for me."

Once the elephant was captured by humans. Now it is free on the savannah. Its body it can move freely wherever it wants. But it is still attached to the ground. Elephants love food, they love the herd, the sun. Elephants love life. Their freedom is bound to the earth.

Absolute freedom

Absolute freedom is a vodka that will give us a hangover, make our legs wobbly and our eyes roll in different directions in the skull. We cannot manage our life, if freedom is absolute. Freedom without consequence drives us crazy. Relative freedom is better.

The man who lives in a dream, he wants less freedom. Nurses turn him in bed. There is a bag of liquid food that flows through a tube into his stomach. He doesn't need anything. He is absolutely free. Everything is done for him. Yes, everything. The temperature is pleasant. People are friendly. The night guard brushes his hair away from his forehead. Sometimes she kisses him on the cheek, even though it's forbidden. Takes his hand and caress it. Whispering in the dark "wake up man, wake up and see all the beauty in life, wake up."

One morning the man wakes up. Opens the eyes. There is a woman sitting on the chair by his bed, where she has fallen asleep. He likes her face and tries to raise his arm to touch her, but the arm is as heavy as lead. The man understands he has slept for a long time, his muscles are gone. Now he is free to start over. Learning to walk. Pee on a toilet without falling down and wash your body. Free.

This is how we become more free

Responsibility: So you will be more free. Relatively speaking, right? Maybe you are not paralyzed and not in a coma, but there is certainly room for more freedom in your life. On a scale from 0 to 100, you want to spice up your freedom, 5 or 10 or 20 percent. How much more free will you be? Maybe you want to be less free? I don't know, but we know you can do anything. If you want.

Here is the recipe for more freedom.

You must be free to be my servant. Free to be my gardener, my cook, my driver. Free to put my house in order, pick the apples and make juice for me, feed the animals and milk my cow. The freedom to work for other people, you may already have that freedom.

May I see your passport? The foreigners have no right to work here. Those without papers, they must hide in a backyard at night, rest against the wall and sleep with their eyes half open. Early on, the sun rises over the city and a farmer drives around to pick up day laborers in his pick-up truck. They work a long day under the sun, they get food and water. Going into town in the evening, with a bank note in his clenched hand.

Check your passport - are you free to be you?

If you don't have the right to be here, your freedom is limited. With no rights to be here, you have to work way too hard and make way too little money. Check your passport. Run away if it gets too hard.

What does your inner passport say? Do you feel welcome? Do you have the right to speak your mind and shape your life as you see fit?

Sometimes we are our own worst oppressor. Sometimes we put restraints on ourselves and claim that we are not allowed to speak our mind or show our feelings. If so, maybe learn to be more fearless.

Læs på Dansk: Frihedens elefant Dansk

Elephant of Freedom

Absolute freedom

This is how we become more free

Check your passport - are you free to be you?

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