Not free as a bird.

Perception of reality is, often deemed realer than reality itself. "I want to be as free as a bird." a cliché that feels new, everytime it's being uttered or when our auditory tools cross paths with this ancient, yet immortal utterance. "The other side of the grass looks greener" another famous aphorism, but I prefer Marc and Angel's quote "If the grass looks greener on the other side, it might be life reminding you to water the grass you're standing on."

Who came up with this idea that birds are free? Or, maybe an idealist looked at how birds look stress-free and he thought to himself that they're even able to effortlessly flee from their problems, without realizing that the bird has their own adversities.

Imagine being a bird and you haven't been finding any worms to feed your offspring, and if you do you have to battle other birds you cross paths with on your way back to the nest, and you still have to stress about eagles who might pop in at your nest in your absence, and bereave you. A bird's life is as risky as a zebra's life or a human's life who fears chasing their dreams just to settle for a just over broke and be a devout bourgeois until he's deemed obsolete for their employer's liking. Or, maybe I may assume that the author of the famous bird aphorism was referring to Psalm 124:7. However, if their idea of freedom is the life of the bird, then he was being utterly ridiculous and insulting the creator-Which I strongly hope they did not consider the life of a bird when making a conclusion of their perspective.

Every entity has their own idea of freedom, in fact the planet compromises a preponderance of idealists, hence Democracy became the default system of most countries. But, to most people, a bird is the quintessence of freedom. There's still a huge debate, two sides disagreeing on whether Mandela gave us freedom or he sold us to the colonialists. But if you delve deeper into this subject, and if you look at it from an objective point of view, you'd conclude that he did not necessarily offer us freedom, owing to the fact that the natives of South Africa are still not in possession of their education system, minerals, land and they're also the ones who are at the bottom of the food chain in the economy. But there's good in everything- Everyone is being offered a chance to use their mental ability to regain the land, resources and everything that Africa was bereaved by the evil caucasians who introduced Africa to colonization, let alone democracy.

Free as a bird? Every entity has their respective adversities and if it was possible to fly away from their problems, then there would be uncontrollable traffic in the sky. But, what if the belief that has ruled generations, that has induced us that birds are free, is actually erroneous? What if the idealist who came up with this theory or idea, was going through sharp vicissitudes of fortune and thought to himself "Hey! look at the birds, they have wings and they can fly anywhere in the sky.

If I also had wings, I'd be able to fly away from my all my adversities and all the misfortunes that life keeps bludgeoning me with"? What if birds are like us, we judge them by their ability to spread their wings and fly, and believe that they are more free compared to us? What if they also wish they could be humans, so they would not be shot at and hunted, while also being oblivious to the tempests that we encounter as humans?

What if the other side of the grass looks greener, in this case? Hawks, Falcons and vultures eat other birds as much as humans steal, cheat, lie and kill one another. There's a potential fallacy in the popular belief that has engulfed the subconscious minds of humans for centuries, that birds are free owing to having wings and being able to fly anywhere. Freedom is a state of mind. It all has to do with how an individual perceives themselves and their ability to resist being controlled or owned by an entity who is regarded as a human, just like them.

In life, you do not necessarily have to be a bird to be free, you give yourself freedom. Freedom is being free from society's norms, self-consciousness, jealousy, hate, worries and everything that is likely to canker your soul. You need to be able to face whatever comes without the fear of losses or any thoughts that usually engulf the subconscious minds of pessimists.

Freedom is happiness. Happiness is not constant laughter and smiles, but the ability to face whatever life offers you without being altered into a querulous character, or simply being content with what you currently possess while you're on the quest to attaining more not out of greed but simply because life is all about constant updates of oneself.