"Value your freedom or you will lose it, teaches history. 'Don't bother us with politics', respond those who don't want to learn"

Richard Stallman’s statement captures the delicate balance between freedom and societal responsibility. History has repeatedly demonstrated that freedom is not an inherent, unbreakable right; rather, it is a social construct that requires vigilance, participation, and continuous defense. When individuals grow complacent about their liberties, they risk losing them through gradual erosion, often without realizing it until those freedoms have already slipped away.

The phrase warns against apathy, specifically political apathy. Many people distance themselves from matters of governance, seeing politics as burdensome or irrelevant to their daily lives. Such disengagement, however, is exactly what can render a population vulnerable to losing the rights and freedoms they take for granted. Those who dismiss politics and civic discourse create a vacuum, a space for those with agendas, often not aligned with the broader good, to shape rules and structures unchallenged.

Stallman connects this willful ignorance to historical lessons, indicating that the loss of freedom rarely occurs in dramatic, obvious ways. Instead, it is often the product of small, seemingly inconsequential steps, each unopposed because of widespread indifference. When people shy away from the complexities of politics, they ignore the mechanisms that govern their own lives. The decisions made in the political arena affect everything from personal privacy and free expression to access to knowledge and technology. Dismissing political involvement is, therefore, not simply a personal choice; it’s a collective risk.

Freedom, then, is less a permanent possession than a continual effort. Every generation must recognize its value, engage in the processes defending it, and pass down the importance of vigilance to the next. Failing to do so, history teaches, makes freedom fragile and fleeting. Political engagement, far from being an annoyance, is the very foundation upon which lasting liberty is built and preserved.