Are we really independent ..???

Happy Independence Day......!!! The question today ....Are we really independent ..??? Is every Indian truly independent, though the country got its independence many many years ago...?? Today we realise that only the cage has been changed....from "Queen Elizabeth's" to "dynastic rulers at the centre and some states of the country". As Mahatma Gandhi has put it, Our life is a long and arduous quest after truth.....and the struggle continues even after so many years of the so called "independence" for a "Free India". What is Independence..? And Independent thinking..? - "not depending on the authority of others" and "not dependent on others for forming an opinion." Making up your own mind, in other words. But what does that really mean? Does it mean forming an opinion without input from others?  No, of course not, otherwise we "reinvent the wheel" every time we make a decision. We all need relevant information and data for the base of our opinions. It's the way that we seek information and how we apply it .....and that makes us dependent or independent thinkers. If we uncritically accept whatever values or ideas we've been taught by parents, teachers or Institutions, never questioning these ideas or asking ourselves if these ideas really make sense, then natually we are dependent thinkers (even if the ideas are true!). If we reject what our parents, teachers or Institutions have taught us simply because they say something is right, and some thing is wrong........, does that make us independent thinkers? No, that's just what psychologists call it "anti-conformity" rather than non-conformity.  Making up your own mind is an action, not a reaction. Independent thinking means making sense of the world based on your own observations and experiences rather than jut depending on the word of others. It means trusting your own ability to make judgments, even if they contradict what others say. It means acting in accordance with these judgments, even if you sometimes make mistakes. An independent thinker knows it's better to make your own mistakes than someone else's. Sometimes we make mistakes; sometimes it's difficult to know if our beliefs are our own or simply uncritically borrowed. No one ever said independent thinking is easy. Critical thinking is a tool that you as an independent thinker can use.Too often people think that being critical means just tearing some argument down: "Critical thinking," they write, "is the ability and willingness to assess claims and make objective judgments on the basis of well-supported reasons. It is the ability to look for flaws in arguments and resist claims that have no supporting evidence. It also fosters the ability to be creative and constructive - to generate possible explanations for findings, think of implications, and apply new knowledge to a broad range of social and personal problems. You can't really separate critical thinking from creative thinking, for it's only when you question what is that you can begin to imagine what can be." One shouldn't defend his own beliefs too passionately or criticize someone else's beliefs too strongly." When he complains 'it's just my opinion', think if it is a good opinion or a bad opinion?.Is it well-supported by evidence or reasons? The goal is to teach students how to take a position and defend it strongly and with passion, and yet fairmindedly." Commitment and Fair-mindedness goes along with the notion of critical thinking. As we mature to adulthood, we go through different stages in our thinking about beliefs. As young teens, many of us see the world from an authoritarian perspective. There's only one right answer and it's the teacher or authority figure's job to give us "the" answer. Sadly, many adults never get out of this stage!. Then, as we mature, we begin to see things in a more relative perspective, recognizing that different people have different points of view. At this point, we can take several paths - we can slip into complete relativism, believing that any opinion is as good as any other; or we can slip into nihilism, giving up any belief; or, if we keep growing, we move forward to the final stage. Here, we recognize the need to make a commitment to personal beliefs that we have arrived at by careful thinking and a need to take responsibility for these beliefs. But at this stage, we also accept and respect the idea that others may hold contradictory values to which they are equally committed. In other words, we see the need defend our values and to be fair-minded. All of us here try to inculcate such an "independent thinkers". I strongly believe, true independence comes from "Individual liberation".  To that we say, "HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY."  If we leave our population uneducated, unfocused, unskilled and uninspired, we have a disaster in the coming days, but if the same population, if we can transform it in the coming generation into a focused, capable and inspired population, we have a miracle, in the sense, for we can move them from one level of living to a completely another higher level of living which is historic too. India has the opportunity to become a powerful nation on the planet. We have the knowledge and the capability to guide the world towards well-being. Here is a request to every Indian citizen to stand up to make this happen; How to do that ? That is the question.... Whatever you are doing in uour life, whether you are a peasant or an politician, whether you are a police man or a doctor, whether you are a lawyer or an engineer, whatever job doing, let do it well, this is the only way to build a nation.  Nation building does not happen with great speeches adn slogans; it happens only when every one of us do our duties out of dedication and commitment to creating a nation ... Then only we say "HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY." -----------------------------------------------------------------------------