Whose Freedom?

The monastery has 3600 acres.  We do not cultivate all of it.  Most is left as pasture, or simply left to do whatever it has done for millennia.  We irrigate pasture so that whatever is there will grow,be it weed, grass or flowers.  Animals eat it all.  There have been critters living in these pastures and forests forever.  It is their home.  Now if someone wants to build a house on such land, they might say, "It is a beautiful view. I want a house here."  So they uproot a lot of stuff, trees soil and plants.  When the house is built, the owners complain that there are critters under and around the house digging holes.  Well, you built your home on top of their home.  What did you expect?  So you kill or displace the critters, to be rid of them in your area.  Your freedom took away their freedom.  The homeowner destroyed ecology so that they could have what they want.

Some people tell others that they, the others, are not free to what whatever they want or choose, usually in areas of sex.  Then these same critical people say, "I will recycle if it suits me.  I will build my home where it suits me."  Seems as if the word freedom is at time a bit self-centered, no?