So near yet so far

From Enhanced Community Quarantine to Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine to General Community Quarantine, some of our constituents are puzzled by their graduation, or even back to previous status. Although there are changes, we can hardly identify if we graduated from ECQ to GCQ. And maybe for most, those slight changes aren't so welcome as they already want to rush to where they want to go or do what they used to do months ago. So long as we know we are almost to the end of it, but it takes months or years until we can go back to where we used to be, so far as vaccination for the virus takes months or more.

It is indeed a challenging patience test. We wish to break free of the quarantine. This strongly is the same feeling for someone who has lost his freedom — freedom to do whatever he needs or wants. We refrained from seeing our loved ones for nearly two months, abstained from visiting our friends and places that bring memories and happiness. We were deprived.

But that sort of deprivation has a good cause. A reason not just for yourself but for others. If one's life is at stake, or the lives of many, including our loved ones, are at stake, then we rationalize this deprivation. Yet when are we going to tell you that we really hit our endurance limit and that we filled too much, too hard to get or to carry?

Liberty, a condition in which we can speak, act and pursue happiness without unnecessary external constraints. This is critical because it contributes to increased expressions of innovation and original thought, increased productivity and a high quality of life overall. We are calling for innovative thought and change but are hindered by certain regulations. Much of the time we are basically unproductive, so we can't do what we used to do. And so, impacting the quality of life generally.

The concept of freedom is complicated and it needs to be redefined and defended once more by every generation. And it is only those in this time of pandemic who have a sense of the past and a highly developed understanding of human nature who can understand and appreciate the value of freedom. All too often people who live in democracy tend to overlook and take their fragility for granted. Instead, it is hard for people who have not been brought up within a long tradition of democracy to understand and implement it in society.

There is no such thing as absolute freedom, especially in broad political jurisdictions like towns and countries. Everything liberty includes balance between the individual's rights and the State's aims and obligations. As a consequence, there are various rules, legislation and judicial pronouncements concerning the principles of democracy and the particulars of how it should be exercised.

Someone may think they will take away our rights to give us the care or treatment we need. And in this time of pandemic, our independence is governed by, regulated or absolutely deprived for reasons of health.

While it is avoided wherever possible, there is sometimes no alternative but to deprive us of our freedom, as it is in our best interests.