The words are not true synonyms when one takes into account dual meanings.
Independence can be defined as freedom from outside aid or support, as being separate, self-sufficient, whereas freedom more refers to personal liberty, ability to speak or act openly, and to be spared of imprisonment or being confined.
One can be free without truly being independent. One can be independent, but not free.
Independence Day is not interchangeable with Freedom Day for this very reason. It was America’s moment as a competent state, one endowed with freedoms. We were not merely free. We were capable of handling that freedom.
Freedom can also be taken into the concept of being withheld from something, of being captured or contained. The argument of the soul is derived from a perception of the body as a vessel of sorts, the fallible, disposable machine through which the soul acts. When one sees the mortal failings of the physical body, it is easy to understand the idea of a soul leaving the body upon death, in a released fashion to pursue whatever lies beyond. Therefore, in a typical Westernized religious or spiritual mindset, death is when the soul becomes free of the hindering body, but also when one becomes entirely independent as well. The soul no longer relies on the body’s nourishment and maintenance, of certain physiological processes to follow through properly or psychological needs to be met. Environmental conditions are of no importance any longer either.
I am not implying that death does not come with its grief. Those left living mourn for the dead, for the loss of communication and companionship, of love and reciprocity, and in remembrance for all the person represented, accomplished, his or her attributes, and shared memories. This sense of freedom and independence, these words that are so readily used and abused today, are seen in a new light. These are just things to think about.
