A lifelong battle for freedom and independence

It is often said that man is born into this world with absolutely nothing. I do not agree with that as man has at least two things with him; a free will and the right to be himself. It is easy to convince a person to hand both over, especially when growing up and when the person is not aware of his/her individuality. Both are impossible to take away when a person knows the meaning of those gifts. And most people will fight for both as long as they live. We need to respect those gifts for us and for others. The more we respect them for others, the easier it is for us to exercise ours. In ancient societies man was often not allowed to have either. Then over time those societies evolved a tolerance and acceptance of free will. Unfortunately it has taken most societies much longer to accept that man has a right to be himself. Even today we encounter much intolerance if we do not conform to accepted values. Many do not realize that the 'accepted' values often were initially established to exercise control over people and societies. And those methods were also used in older societies to negate free will. If modern societies cannot accept differences in individuals, they have certainly not evolved beyond than ancient societies. Looking at the world of today societies range from ultra-mode
to almost feudal. For us, human kind, to be able to coexist in peace we need to accept those basic two gifts and let go of the control over individual minds. By doing that we will realize how much alike we are, and that in return will help us to coexist in peace and prosperity for all. Our world will only survive when we accept that reality. I have my own free will and I exercise my right to be myself. How others comb their hair or how their free will guides them is their concern. I only expect them to respect mine as I do theirs.