Freedom disconcerting?

I knew at a very young age that I was never going to have kids. There are some things in life that you just have a feeling about. Having the freedom and ability to choose is a wonderful thing, but sometimes I wonder. On one hand I am thankful that I did not bring a kid into this crazy world we live in, but on the other, would I have been able to raise that child in a manner fitting to make any difference? Sadly, the world isn't always a place for choosing.

I am not by nature a religious person, but I do believe in religious freedom. However, one thing that I find hard to accept, in this day and age, is a religion, or a culture, which by its very nature restricts, even forbids the rights and freedom of certain individuals within their own folds, but not others. Yes, yes, throughout history what religion or culture of man has not done this at some point, but by the same token, have there not been advances, reformation or evolution of some sort? Some people have difficulty understanding this concept because they are so focused on the first freedom and do not look beyond it, or do not see or choose not to see it. This goes for people who are bound by that religion or culture and those who are so adamant for the freedom to choose in the first place. What some fail to understand is that when you are born into a life, and that is all you know, how do you know that there is anything inherently wrong with it? We were given brains so that we might improve our human condition, to seek knowledge and understanding, to grow and to evolve, not to remain sheltered, veiled, hidden and oppressed, under the yoke of some other human.

So, reading that first article brought to mind a newspaper clipping that I had saved, from way back when I actually used to read the newspaper, and still paid attention to mainstream media. It was from March 3, 2001, and is entitled "Why this statue of Buddha matters". I still have the newspaper clipping, but could not find the article online anywhere. However in my journey agoogling, I found this footage of Bamiyan from 1973 (had to chuckle at the narrators), the destruction in 2001, and the explanation for same, to which I say this. Now, I'm not Buddhist, but obviously that isn't why those statues mattered. Have to half-heartedly wonder what ever happened to all those Buddhists. It isn't like they only passed through on the silk road for a few days. Anyways, I went looking for a link to that newspaper article again tonight, and found this instead. Oh, and on a similar note, a few days ago, I came across something about ancient Jewish scrolls found in that same country. Very interesting. Went digging a bit further and found an older article here.

So, yes, I sort of had a focus to the original thought, as I mentioned a couple days ago, but ended up on somewhat of a rant, and then went on a rambling tangent. I just don't seem to have any clarity of thought on a whole and I have to wonder if anything I write even makes sense anymore. It is very disconcerting.