It is difficult to travel around the world as a journalist, prying into other people's lives, without developing an appreciation of the idea of freedom perhaps somewhat more varied than that most people have. You will come to understand that all people desire freedom, though they desire it in different ways. They want political freedom, economic freedom, freedom to move about as they wish, freedom frequently being associated with travel. People want specific freedoms, such as the freedom to exploit the opportunities they encounter, freedom to associate with whomever they please, publish or speak as they are inclined to. Some people will risk their lives for, even die, for an idea of freedom. A few people even strive for the freedom to crush the freedom of others. Only the anarchists believe in undiluted personal freedom, but recognize that the territory of their freedom extends only to the boundry of the next person's. The anarchists make a religion of freedom, and they may be the only ones who truly understand it. Some people seem not to desire freedom at all, prefering instead to cultivate their security. There are convicts who decline to leave their prisons. But, what is security but another word for freedom? Freedom from want and hunger, freedom from the indifferent and cold blast of the elements.

Freedom is an illusion, for it is an idea with so many different faces. It can satisfy us or, in its perceived absence, depress us. Paradoxically, one can become a prisoner of freedom. That is what this is all about.