Do you know the value of freedom?

The most important value in life, for me, is my freedom. The freedom to be myself, the freedom to make choices based on my value system. What is life without the freedom of choice? Without the freedom to think, to just be? That is something we take for granted and think we have, but on introspection, I realize that very few of us can lay claim to freedom of the soul. We may be free in all other respects, but there is always something or someone that holds us back from being ourselves, from living our lives the way we truly want.. it may be social conditioning, it may even be our parents, spouses, children, loans, the government, the list goes on...Of course, with great freedom comes great responsibility, and for argument's sake, it could be said that it would be detrimental to society if everybody does as they wished...but I'm not talking about "Great" freedom here, just "Basic" freedom...What made me think about this was an article in the Reader's Digest-the condensed book section-about an African boy who was kidnapped and taken as a slave at the age of 7, and remained so for a decade or so, and later escaped to the United States and is now an active crusader for abolition of slavery, which is still rampant in parts of Africa. His story is truly heart wrenching...I felt outraged that in this day and age, this could still happen...the other time I felt this outraged was when I read about female genital mutilation (FGM), but that would have to be the topic of another post...