You are starving for a good meal. Glancing at the menu, you see the entrée of “FREEDOM” listed. No price next to it. That must be because it is priceless and too valuable to quantify. The waiter/waitress informs you that it comes with two sides: LIBERTY and GRATITUDE. You happily place your order and sit back to relax with your complimentary beverage of choice.
Your mind wonders what this dish might be like. It arrives at your table, hot, fresh, and pleasant in appearance. What does your FREEDOM smell like, taste like, or even sound like? Are all your senses alert and awake to enjoy and appreciate this delicacy? FREEDOM is something different to everyone.
To me, FREEDOM sounds like the roar of a V8, 5.7 Liter Hemi engine with Flowmaster exhaust that I can romp on, as long as I obey the speed limit and not put others in danger. It has to include Led Zeppelin tunes blasting and vibrating the windows. To my pilot friend Zach, FREEDOM smells like JP8 burning out the backside of an airplane. To my motorcycle enthusiast friend Cuyler, FREEDOM smells like Castrol bean oil from a ripping two-stroke engine. My friend and mentor Shauna, says her idea of FREEDOM is the open road and a tank full of gas, no matter the price per gallon. No more student loan payments will be FREEDOM for my son Derek. To an avid elk hunter named Scott, FREEDOM means placing his foot on a piece of wilderness that no other human ever has seen or touched.
To me, FREEDOM means making Orwell, Bradbury, and Huxley fiction again. To some, FREEDOM means having a Donald J. Trump endorsement. To others, FREEDOM means having the right to hold an opposing opinion. To me, FREEDOM means listening to all sides and views while reserving the right to form my own opinion and not be forced to agree. To me, FREEDOM means that if that disagreement occurs, no respect or friendship is lost. To me, FREEDOM means the purpose of the discussion is not always for victory, but for progress.
To the founders of this country, FREEDOM meant lots of things, including avoiding a hereditary monarchy. FREEDOM included the right to vote but with a huge irony. You may already know this historical fact, but in the first presidential election of George Washington (and other offices) and for several decades afterward, voting was limited to male citizens who owned property. The property had to carry a value of at least $50 (about $600 in modern currency).
The American populace cries about voting fraud nowadays, but they also could have had that complaint in the election of 1800. The magnetic leadership of Aaron Burr (winner in the duel with Alexander Hamilton) used the idea known as a“tontine”, whereby a dozen or so men would jointly purchase a property worth roughly $50, and then each claimed it on election day. A woeful use of the FREEDOM to vote. As we now know and have experienced, it took more than a century to gain permission for all persons, races, and genders to earn a right to cast their opinion at the ballot box.
I have many friends who feel FREEDOM means carrying a firearm anytime, anywhere they choose. Personally, guns make me a bit nervous, but I do not disagree with their feelings. I will always vote in favor of 2nd Amendment rights as long as we as a society can understand the other tenet of FREEDOM in which I firmly believe. That being our FREEDOM comes with responsibility and accountability. Remember the side dish I referred to in the beginning paragraph? The one called GRATITUDE? That is where it all connects. Showing responsibility and GRATITUDE is the least we can do for all the FREEDOMS we enjoy.
I hear pundits and critics claim we are having our FREEDOMS stripped away by the government. I have asked myself, “What FREEDOMS have I lost or had taken away from me in my 62 years?” The only ones I could identify as now absent or restricted were usually due to my own actions and thereby consequential. Therefore, I am not confident in agreeing with that sentiment. Having a differing opinion is a healthy part of the FREEDOMS we own, as I mentioned above.
FDR made a famous speech about four FREEDOMS he felt were paramount. FREEDOM of speech and worship were listed first. Then followed FREEDOM from want and FREEDOM from fear. Depending on perspective, an argument could be made that all four of these liberties have, at a minimum, been altered or affected in the past couple of centuries. In my opinion, they are each largely intact, yet the latter two could be much improved upon.
To all those founders and to those who fight for our FREEDOMS, on the battlefield of war I must say thank you and JOB WELL DONE. To those in the congressional chambers, both national and statewide, I also say thank you and job well done?
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