The freedom to choose your dreams, and the power to fulfill them are much the essence of happiness

  The freedom to achieve, the freedom to dream, the freedom to do something with your life, and the freedom to use your talents -- these things combine to form one of the most basic of of freedoms: the freedom to pursue your heart's desire. Place this freedom next to those freedoms of which we speak so often --  the freedoms of worship and free speech, and the right to bear arms.
  I think of athletes behind the Iron Curtain, and how they have been invited to be athletes for the state. I think of how Russia and the Soviet Union have had so much success in the Olympics -- which means they have provided so many athletes the thrill of achieving something with their lives.
   I think that is a portion of freedom.
   I also think, though, of the athletes who defected from the Soviet Union, and Cuba, and other countries. The freedom to become star athletes was not enough for them.
   The freedom to choose your dreams, and the power to fulfill them are much the essence of happiness. If a person is allowed to become a star in one thing, but is suppressed in others, he may feel the balance of freedom is not his.