Free agents can be thought of as agents who have the freedom to choose what they want to do with their time and resources, but they could also be thought of as agents for freedom. In other words, freedom is not a byproduct or fringe benefit of our agency, but our agency is given to us with the calling and responsibility to be advocates, defenders, and promoters of freedom in all of its manifestations. To be good agents for freedom, we must first utilize our power to choose in a way that will maximize our own personal freedoms. This may often result in us sacrificing or forgoing the freedom to indulge and partake in every momentary pleasure and temptation that easily besets us so that we will maximize our freedom not just for the present moment but across all of the moments and wells and months and years that lie ahead. But if we are to truly maximize our own personal freedoms, then we have to accept the fact that being agents for freedom means expanding the reach of freedom beyond just how it affects us personally. After all, lots of people around us are going to choose to chase after every whim and passing fancy and jeopardize not only their own future freedom, but the current and future freedom of those around them. Therefore, if we want to maximize our own freedom, then we need to make sure everyone else is also invested in maximizing their freedom. If we want to be agents for freedom, then that means we will need to turn everyone else into agents for freedom too. All of the curtailments of freedom that everyone faces around the world stem from the consequences of individuals throughout time abusing or abdicating their agency and making choices that run counter to the cause of freedom. But by the same token, this tide of oppressive tyranny and fearful inaction can be turned by every person who chooses to act as an agent for freedom, especially by those who are working tirelessly to convince and persuade and invite all of those around them to also be agents for freedom. I hope that we can all have a little more ambition for the cause of freedom by seeing it not as a right or a privilege but as a duty and a responsibility.
