One year, my family went home to celebrate Christmas at our cottage in the English countryside. That year, we went big and bought two Christmas trees to decorate the house.
After Christmas, before returning to Switzerland, I felt sorry for the two pine trees so I planted them in the garden, one in front of the house and one in the back.
Trouble Arise from the Pine Tree
More than a year passed, we rarely went back to England because of busy work and other trips, the Christmas tree was still growing like crazy but neither my husband nor I noticed. Until one day, he who was in the US at that time called me who was in India, saying that the police had just called him.
They informed us that our neighbors had filed a complaint with the police station, requesting government intervention because... the pine tree planted in front of my house was now quite tall, potentially blocking their family's view (?!).
What? I remember very clearly my shocked reaction to what my husband told me. I asked, "So what do the police want from us now? The tree is in our garden!"
It should also be added that our house in England, in a village with a steep terrain and our house is on top of a small hill, so it is generally a little higher than the other houses in the village, so even though that pine tree is not very tall, it is still at the same level as the house opposite in front!
My husband said he had to arrange a business trip back a day early, then immediately fly back to England to deal with this tree, otherwise the police said they would come into the garden and saw the tree away.
I said if they didn't allow it, then let them come in and saw it themselves, why would I buy a plane ticket back to England just to do that. He said no, if they come in and do this, they will send us an invoice for the cost, we'd better arrange it ourselves if we don't want to be surprised... again about the invoice. Hearing that, I didn't argue any further!
For many years, I have often heard the saying: "In the West, they are very free, people respect differences so everyone is always free to do what they want!" This is only true if you understand the definitions of "freedom" in the West.
Freedom in the freedom of others
Actually, there are many things that are "free" in one living environment but are not accepted in another living environment. And one thing that I am quite sure of is that "freedom" is not "doing whatever you want", in both the East and the West.
Westerners, at least where I have lived and worked, are very respectful of individual differences in identity.
For example, in the office environment where I work, I meet quite a few male colleagues with long hair, tied in ponytails, even holding high-level management positions.
Obviously, having a different hairstyle from most people around you, or having large tattoos on exposed parts of your body, or wearing a nose ring… are things that don't seem to affect the work of the colleagues I know.
A Swiss village with traditional chalets that retains its architecture and landscape for the common good of the community
However, I once witnessed a colleague of mine wearing earrings, after parking his car in a parking lot, getting out of the car, he realized that one wheel seemed to be slightly encroaching on the dividing line with the adjacent parking space, immediately turned back to the car to adjust it until his car was neatly between the two dividing lines before stopping.
This shows that freedom to express yourself is different from doing what you like without worrying about the impact on others.
Western philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) said: "Liberty is the ability of a person to do whatever he wants without any hindrance." But also in Western countries, the law is extremely strict to ensure that each person finds his freedom in the freedom of others, this is the boundary between social control and the independence of each individual.
Freedom does not mean that a person can do whatever they want without suffering the consequences. One person's freedom cannot harm another person's freedom. People are free within the framework of not harming anyone else's freedom.
Practice to be conscious
Some people who have been to Europe told me that the people here have a good sense of awareness, they always avoid affecting others. In fact, they have been trained to have that awareness and it is a paid training, even a very high fee.
Whenever I fly back to my home in Switzerland after a trip, either my husband picks me up or I call a car myself from a car rental app.
If I call a car, I will always go to the area where the car is allowed to pick me up before I start booking, which means I may have to wait for quite a while.
If I call a car in advance and am not there when the car arrives, they will not wait for me and I will be charged a very high fee, and if it happens several times, my app account will be locked and I will not be able to call a car on that app anymore.
So why didn't that car stop and wait for me? Because in Switzerland they get a heavy fine if they park in a no parking area.
When I return to Vietnam, I am probably the only one who arrives at the pick-up area to book a car and my driver often has to wait behind a long line of cars where the person who booked the car is sometimes still waiting to pick up their luggage! Obviously, when a sense of community is not built, more freedom is more disadvantageous.
A year ago, I was planning to renovate our country house in England so that we could spend more time there in the summer. But my husband said he didn't want to demolish the front part of the house, because that was the most important part that created the overall beauty compared to other houses in this village, the typical beauty of the country houses from the 18th century that is still preserved until now, we couldn't destroy it...
Finally, we no longer have a Christmas tree in our front yard but I have the freedom to decorate the Christmas tree in the back with any kind of colorful lights...
In fact, laws are not made to limit individual freedoms but to ensure that these freedoms are exercised. The more strict the laws are in a country, the more secure the people living there feel. That is the highest form of freedom.
Source
Comment (0)