(Photograph: Sea oats along the Pacific Rim Trail/ Yachats, Oregon/ Julie Cook/2013)
“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.”
Thomas Jefferson
Merriam Webster defines Liberty as: the quality or state of being free:
a : the power to do as one pleases
b : freedom from physical restraint
c : freedom from arbitrary or despotic control
d : the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges
e : the power of choice
There is a fine line between the liberties of our freedom and the wanton reckless abandon of anarchy —and yes, this desire to live one’s life as one choses, this liberty, this freedom has come at a cost—the highest cost, the highest price humans can offer–their lives. Men and woman have been paying the highest price for this freedom of ours since the late 1700’s–as the road, even prior to a Revolutionary War, was paved in equal peril—all in order to have the choice as to how to live a life as one truly wishes.
Yes there are laws, there are the “within reasons”, the democratic rule, a check and balance within leadership…these things must accompany freedom so that all people of this one nation under God may each experience the sweetness of freedom–equally and justly.
We will do well to remember that we may sometimes not like things or individuals entrusted with the care of managing our “Liberty” yet we still have the freedom of choice, the freedom of voice, the freedom of the word, the freedom of prayer, the freedom of travel… and we must be ever vigilant in maintaining these freedoms. All this as I sit and watch the news of Egypt crumbling—
May we remember our responsibilities to our “freedom” , to our Liberty….. may we also remember our responsibility to a world that looks to us as an example–I fear we are letting our Allies, as well as those who look to us for strength, down–all good things worth having are indeed worth working for and in our case, fighting for—this “working” is not easy—it requires strength, sweat, pain, suffering, and commitment—are you still willing to do what it required—I hope so…I hope and pray that we all are…………..
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