One of the Eight Values of Free Expression that resonates with me, the most is Individual Self Fulfillment (or Self Actualization). To quote Stephen R. Covey, “there are certain things that are fundamental to human fulfillment. The essence of these needs is captured in the phrase ‘to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy. The need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution.” Within this quote, we can see just how important finding our own identities is, according to this quote to satisfy human fulfillment we must find who we are ourselves and then discover who we are with others and learn from that then leave a legacy behind of what came from those experiences.
Personally, I feel like Individual Self Fulfillment resonates with me because I would like to feel comfortable enough that I can express myself and leave the legacy I was meant to leave on the world. The freedom of Self Fulfillment is defined as the ability to enable individuals to express themselves and thereby create their own identity, we as people and/ or humans must accept who we are and who we are meant to be in order to truly fulfill our lives to their greatest potential. If we don’t accept who we are we might never unlock that potential that is inside each and every one of us and then we will never be able to obtain the legacy and/ or footprint we are to leave on this planet.
In today’s society, no two people are the same; everyone differs from each other in one way or another. Joy Fitzgerald once said “Stop apologizing! It’s ok if your ideas are different, your goals are big - don’t be afraid of what others would say. You are skilled, capable, talented - you deserve to be a leader, and you are enough. Leaning in can be uncomfortable, so don’t be afraid to own your seat, lean back, and kick your feet up.” The thought of others judging you seems to be one of the main reasons people don’t go out and achieve their goals. We can’t let others dictate our lives and at the end of the day, going back to self fulfillment, we have to be able to accept ourselves before anyone else can accept us, which also happens to be a lesson you learn in one of my favorite Broadway musicals Kinky Boots (you should watch it if you haven’t already).
When looking back at the definition of Individual Self Fulfillment, free speech allows us as individuals to express ourselves and come upon our true identity, we then learn from those experiences and apply them to relationships to find our so called “kindred spirits.” We then backtrack to the phrase used earlier ‘to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy,’ we should first live our lives and try to figure out who we are as individuals; we should then find our ‘kindred spirits’ and then learn from those experiences to finally leave someone that will outlive you. These facts then become a part of everyday human life and we can see just how important free speech is.
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