To be free: The Meaning of the Word

To begin with, imagine a dark, cold, sterile room. It is filled with cages containing terrified stray animals. A small black and white puppy whimpers in a dark and musty corner cage. The puppy shivers and cries out for his mother repeatedly, only to be muted out by the roar of strained, aggressive barking and cruel, tortured growls. The revolting smells around him are foreign and abnormal, a mixture of filth in a sterile environment. Closest to him, the puppy smells the dog in the next cage. The puppy is entrenched in the sour, rancid stench of the broken dog's fear. The sickening smell penetrates him completely. The puppy is scared. He's been in this cage for nearly a week, and though he is given food and water, he is utterly alone. The puppy doesn't realize it, but his time left in his disgusting little cage is short. He is not free.

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” written by french novelist and playwright Albert Camus, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1957. The word free has a countless number of definitions. Some define it in reference to control, while to others, it refers to cost. Either way, the word definitely has negative and positive connotations in today's society. Tracing the words origins, the word free has history in many languages including English, German, Romanian, and Dutch. Google retrieves over 838,000,000 songs with the word free in them and 2,580,000,000 results that include the word free. In fact, searching for something free on the internet could take you a lifetime. To be free is to be unencumbered. Freedom is the ability to do as one chooses. Free is without cost. Free can also mean a shedding of...

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...every one of us can relate to the idea of having our freedoms stripped from us. The meanings of this word range from the superficial to the farthest depths of emotion, and though it has many negative connotations, it certainly has strong positive ones as well.

Lastly, imagine a music festival, happening at dusk in a huge field with the stars shining brightly over head. A beautiful young woman lies on her back on the supple, intensely green grass. She gazes up at the stars, with a sweet smile touching her lips. The people all around her are singing along to her favorite song, that is being played by her favorite band. They are all swaying, unified by the soothing melody of the music. The woman breaths deeply and smells the grass and sweet smell of the flowers scattered about the field. The smell reminds her of her mother. The smile on her face broadens. She is free.