Liberty?

I am going to start off this week’s blog with a little story.  There was once a rich young man who lived in his father’s house and had all that he desired.  His father made sure that he had the finest clothes, the nicest car to drive, and every time the young man opened up the fridge, it was brimming with food. On the surface, it seemed that the young man had everything he could ever want but nonetheless, perhaps out of sheer boredom, the young man approached his father and said, “I need to strike out on my own.  Give me my inheritance now, and I will make a life for myself away from your home.  The only reason I seem to have everything is because of what you provide. I want to find out if I can do the very same thing on my own; make a career, and find success apart from you.” (You may think you know the story, but keep reading) 

So the father obliged, gave the young man his inheritance, and like a flash in his 2012 Mercedes, he was off to try and make his own mark on the world. 

I’ll stop there for a moment. Have we ever given serious though to what liberty really is? By its definition, Liberty is defined by Webster as freedom from captivity. It makes sense to believe then, that liberty is freedom from any one thing that wishes to hold us captive. When we formed the United States, it was to gain freedom from Britain. When we as individuals choose (that is going to be the key word) to have a certain liberty, whether it is overindulging  in certain unhealthy foods, choosing to light up a cigarette, or even pursue a certain lifestyle, we do so with freedom, knowing that it is well within our rights as Americans to do so accordingly.  Here is where it gets a little complicated and muddy. What if that freedom which originated as a choice was now a “forced” freedom that is perceived to be by some the overarching “healthier value” we should all adopt? Can that then still be considered freedom? 

The year is young, and I’m still pondering how to “Carpe Diem”; I find myself understanding that the quickest way to being confident of the decisions I make is to fully comprehend what words really mean vs. what I am force fed daily by those with hidden and sometimes well-intentioned agendas.  Freedom is a birthright here in America and if you believe in it, then you have to fully believe in it.  We can’t just cafeteria-style pick the freedoms we should have, then deny every other one we don’t agree with. Freedom is the very DNA of what our country is founded on, and is what gave us our strength, virtue and inspired other countries to follow suit.  We as a people love to say that we are accepting of different cultures and lifestyles, but in the same breath, wrongly pursue some of those cultures and lifestyles we may not understand. We as a people say we are proud of having freedom, and yet try to push “forced freedom” which is really not freedom at all, unto others. My deepest disappointment is that I truly feel the reason our world is such a mess, is because we have lost the ability to genuinely care for or acknowledge someone as an equal even though they are different. I guess for some, that’s okay though.  After all, freedom if it truly is freedom indeed should be without limits and that even includes those that choose to be closed minded to others who do not think like them.

Oh yes, the story of the young man who got his inheritance early? Turns out he didn’t do too badly. He opened his own investment firm, made a ton of dough, and gave almost all of it away to charity. See, even though he had everything he could ever want by “forced freedom,” True freedom was having the ability to choose it for himself.