I'm speaking of facts on the ground. A little boy is very excited to go to school but the school is one-day kilometer away (that's how they measure distance somewhere in the mountains-- that means you need an entire day of walking to reach your destination), the trail is almost impassable especially when it rains, the parents are dirt poor, and so on. Now, I'm not saying that the boy won't become a professional someday, but the odds are totally against him. It won't surprise me, and I won't blame them, if only 1 among 10 of them will eventually finish elementary.
In my city, the battle of who will lead it is fought between two members of political and corrupt dynasties. You tell me if I indeed have a choice.
Free will, freedom, authenticity, choice, and so on are beautiful words. Words. If you're under a different set of circumstances, you can speak of them as if they're real. To some, they aren't.
And there are such concepts as natural lottery and social lottery. The government, institutions, system, structures should fill the gap, provide more to those who aren't so lucky in these lotteries. They fail! Terribly!
Darker45, you decided to believe or consider free will and autenticity to be simply words, probably empty words. I'm not saying it's wrong, because you must have your reasons to see things this way.
The recipe to be followed isn't the same for everyone. The boy on the mountains will have to discover and find his own way, just like you and me will have to find ours by ourselves. The point is that there must be gaps on the system, despite the situations faced being pretty challenging and frustrating.
Regards wicked political systems, which are disputed by two dinasties in most places in this world, I believe the first step is to not take part on it. Don't join any factions, avoid depending on them as much as possible, draw personal goals which you can pursue and conclude while avoiding such politicians.
At least, that is what I've observed and learned from life so far...