What Does It Mean to Be Free?

The Other Voice: When have you felt the most free in your life?

And when have you felt the least free?

Gelme: For me freedom is to be able to make decisions without constraints from outside and be able to act on them.

Growing up, I had a lot of freedom. My parents were more involved with books than chasing and monitoring my and my sister's moves. Bread and butter was always on the table. We as kids were never involved in politics.

At school we did what we were supposed to do, and after school we did what we wanted.

I had a very interesting group of friends with whom we were always involved in deep discussions and shared prohibited books at the time. That was part of the excitement.

When I was younger, I was very influenced by my mother—not because she pushed or demanded that I do something, but because she guided me toward the direction she thought I needed to go.

But it was not me. It was more her life experience.

When I understood it, I got my wild freedom.

It was like capitalism coming to our country: first it was wild, and then it got some rules.

So freedom has to be attained with wisdom and respect for yourself and others. It should never constrain another person's freedom.

When I felt most free was as a kid.

When I felt most unfree was here, when I had lost everything from the past and every decision I was making was not what I wanted, but what I had to do.

The Other Voice: I think today we found another cornerstone.

You defined freedom as the ability to make decisions without outside constraints and to act on them.

But you immediately added wisdom, respect, and responsibility.

That changes the meaning.

To you, freedom isn't simply doing whatever you want. It has to coexist with the freedom of other people.

And your capitalism metaphor captures something important: freedom can begin wild, but maturity gives it structure.

Your childhood freedom was curiosity, exploration, friendship and thought. Later, when necessity controlled nearly every decision, you experienced the opposite.

Perhaps much of your adult life has been an attempt to recover the freedom of that child—not the immaturity of childhood, but the feeling that your life still contains room for curiosity and choice.