What is.. the price of freedom?

Watching the diving bell and the butterfly ironically made me realise that we are all prisoners. It's supposed to inspire me to do what I want to do despite the circumstances and it does but at the same time I only just realised how limited our freedom actually is. Sure everyone's personal freedom is limited for the sake of maintaining order in our society and I really don't think people should be allowed to shoot others on the streets arguing that it is his right as a human being to do so, but I still feel confined thanks to the same society we've tried so hard to protect.

People always say -at least in movies that you never really know a person and I'm thinking that it might actually be because of the prejudice and expectations that exists in today's society. A closet psycopath can't simply tell his wife that he was the coldblooded killer they've been hearing on the news about because she most likely would throw him in jail or never look at him the same way. But on a smaller scale, we are always scared of disappointing people and losing people's trusts.. Especially teenagers such as myself. It almost feels like we're programmed to strive for the acceptance of our peers and others and because of that we are confined.

We can't run around chasing butterflies and do other things to be free in the fear that our friends would ridicule and neglect us because they figure it to be a weird thing to do. We tell our parents what they want to hear when they ask us of our plans for the future fearing they too might neglect us and look at us with constant disappointment in their eyes. And these people are supposedly the people we trust most, who we expect love us unconditionally, but we are so paranoid and obsessed with the social norms and conformity that we are forced to become individuals that we are not. So at this point it's really a gamble, do you do what you really want to do because it is your right to choose with your peers and relatives acceptance at stake or do what you think everyone expects you to do knowing fully that you are not happy doing it. People have gambled and risked it all and everything turned out well but there are also others who did the same and received nothing but cold shoulders in return. I'm not a gambler, the only reason I ever win a hand at poker is because my face is stuck on 'indifferent' and I have yet to find the switch to restore my emotions and to be honest, that has not helped me with this problem.

We are as free as our minds let us but nothing more. I'm not saying I understand Mr. Jean-Dominique's situation, but I think everyone understands and can relate to this feeling of confinement I have. I suppose this is why people don't want the life sentence in jail.. besides the soap.