Friday, August 10, 2012

The ultimate price





What comes to your mind when you come across the word liberation? Do you get the feeling of excitement, satisfaction or a burden because you know that has to come with a price? Well whatever emotion you get surely you can agree with me when I say that there is no greater feeling in the world than that of knowing that you are independent. But the burden that the same independence carries is none other than responsibility. “Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility,” said Sigmund Freud. Being careful of your surroundings- minding what you are expressing and to who you are expressing that to, is the responsibility that goes without saying.


As an undergraduate journalist I always get excited when I get an assignment that I have to do outside the institution’s premises. Because that will mean gathering all the relevant information without being supervised to complete that assignment. That to me shows the amount of confidence the lectures have on me. Although the lectures are aware that giving students the freedom of doing unsupervised work is risky simply because they can be tempted to plagiarize but they know that they have taught us one of the fundamental things- that reputation is everything in the career path we chose. The media industry is a very small and competitive industry, everyone knows everyone. The chances of making slip-up should always be limited.

So that means with every story I write I should always remember my reputation is on the line. This experience has made me realised that responsibility is everything and that when you have been exposed to reality this much, never take it lightly. It shouldn’t matter how little the project you are responsible for, all you have to do is do your best and see how many opportunities will come out of it. Never burn your bridges when you have been given power to do what you are good at. Take that responsibility and run with it. “The best road to progress is freedom's road,” John F. Kennedy