To believe in free will is akin to some people in believing that whatever our desire is, we should have the right to go after it, come what may. That may seem to make sense and perhaps does make sense, but the fundamental crux of the problem with free will and our willful desires, is that all of us live within a society, and when the free will and desires of others interfere with our free will or we interfere with theirs, then there is going to be conflict, and where there is conflict, trouble is soon to follow. This would presuppose that we need to temper our free will and our desires, with the understanding that as a member in good standing of society, there is the necessity of understanding the importance and thereby the application of some give and take within our relationships. That is to say, to be only about our own self, and thereby to believe that the other is either subservient to our desires or of no concern, is to vacate our responsibility to be good to one another.
Indeed, to have free will is to have a great power, and those that utilize that power responsibly, are going to have a life that is more meaningful and better, than those that ignore such soundness. We are meant to go after our dreams but to do so with the expressed understanding that we should not desire to walk over people as if they don’t matter, to achieve such. Rather, we need to comprehend, that a society of people that think only of themselves, or only of those that they are closest to, and everything else, is of no real concern or merit, is going to make for a society of individuals, and never of a society that represents teamwork, purpose, and the pursuit of an overarching goal that is beneficial in aggregate for all.
It has to be admitted that with freedom comes attendant responsibilities because even those who believe strongly that they should be entitled to do whatever their heart’s desire leads them to, have got to realize in their saner moments, that our desires should be circumscribed by our duty to be civil to others, and to be dutiful to the society which has provided us with the opportunity to express ourselves in a manner that pleases us. In other words, society presents each of us with the implied obligation to do our good part to help make that society a better place for our involvement in it; for without our contribution, as well as the contributions of motivated others, then our society would not be able to function at the level that it needs to be at, so as to provide the infrastructure and backstop that helps those that need such the most, which comes from our efforts and the contributions of others.
So then, our free will necessitates that we respect one another and that we grant to the other, that whatever rights and prerogatives that we believe should be ours, should also be theirs – and further to the point, that by helping to build up the other, helps to build ourselves up, as well.