I’ve been thinking a lot about the ideal of freedom recently. In recent days this concept is being challenged on a world scale.
Freedom, as defined by the Merriam Webster online dictionary is “the quality or state of being free: as a: the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action b: liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another.”
We are a lucky nation. At times, I think we fail to realize how much freedom we have. We can so easily get caught up in the petty business of our daily life that these minute details seem so immense. We forget to take a moment and realize that we have the ability to criticize our government for what we dislike about it. We also have the strength to change it.
Politics in this country, for example, are a conglomeration of dirty laundry. The media focuses in on every detail of our President’s personal life, yet on a daily basis we forget to look at our role in the world in the bigger picture that is the global political arena. Do world leaders really care about whom our President sleeps with? All they seem to be interested in is our money. But, in our country, at least we’re free to write about such occurrences. In a communist run Soviet Union, such scandals would not be written about or published in a highly respected newspaper.
We are a liberated nation. We are not slaves. When at our worst possible point we may feel oppressed just think of what other countries do not have. If you don’t like your job, you can go find another one. If you don’t like where you live, you can simply move.
As a nation, we gel best when our freedom is challenged. We have seen that in recent days. All of our political bickering seems so meaningless. Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, one thing is sure in the United States; we still have our freedom to declare our beliefs and political affiliations.