The Importance of Individual Self Fulfilment

The ideal of individual self fulfilment is one that should be an innate right of man. Put simply it is the ability to pursue ones passions or goals to their completion as stated on the first page in this essay . But what does this mean? It means that a person should be allowed to do the things they find enjoyment and/or fulfilment in in order to lead a happy and well-lived life. To me this value of free expression is the most important and without it, the world would devolve into a scenario like George Orwell's 1984.

But what do I mean by this? In George Orwell's 1984, people are not allowed to say or do what they want. They are not allowed to pursue the careers they favor. They are not even allowed to love those they wish to love. The characters of it's story are miserable and yearn for the freedom to do what they please. These are all suppressions of the rights our first amendment seeks to protect, but more importantly I find this defies the innate rights all people should have.

These suppressions by the government in the novel make its people, in my eyes, less than people. They're more akin to robots The reason I see things that way is that they are not allowed the most basic right to do things that make them happy. The right to do what you see fit, what makes you happiest, seems so basic it hurts to know there are people in the world who are not allowed it.

North Korea is not a free country. As detailed by this video by the channel Top Trending, the North Korean people are denied the ideal of self fulfilment in spades. They can't worship whichever god they want, they can't travel where they want to, they can't ever cut their hair in the way they see fit. To me they feel like robots. They're mass produced with the same ideology, to be subservient to their government.

Now I should clarify that I do not believe these people do not deserve rights, in fact its the complete opposite. The point I'm stressing is that when people are not allowed to do the things that make them happy, they're reduced to husks, puppets for the North Korean government to use how they see fit. What's even more sickening is that they are not the only country to treat their citizens like this.

Pursuing one's happiness is what makes you human. It is what, in my eyes, gives life purpose and meaning. For that reason alone, I feel it should be considered an innate right, and the value of free expression I hold most dear.