Two sides to every coin

“If it pains you to discover that a Nice Man can be a crumbum, Tom, it’s life you’ve got to object to, not Percy in particular.”
― Ellery Queen

Give me liberty or Give me Death
Patrick Henry

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.
Voltaire

(a two headed Roman “Janus” coin)

Responsibility as defined by Merriam Webster:
: the state of being the person who caused something to happen
: a duty or task that you are required or expected to do
: something that you should do because it is morally right, legally required, etc.

Moral obligations as defined by USlegal.com:
Moral obligation is an obligation arising out of considerations of right and wrong. It is an
obligation arising from ethical motives, or a mere conscientious duty, unconnected with any legal
obligation, perfect or imperfect, or with the receipt of benefit by the promisor of a material or
pecuniary nature. Moral obligation springs from a sense of justice and equity that an honorable
person would have, and not from a mere sense of doing benevolence or charity.

Freedom as defined by Oxford dictionary:
The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or
restraint

Rites + freedoms + liberties = responsibility.

Freedom to:
defame
blaspheme
belittle
mock
desecrate
offend. . .

The freedom to be satirical, to be outspoken, to ruffle feathers. . .
To irritate
To heal
To soften
To entertain
To insult
To defend
To inflame
To incite
To quell
To antagonize
To redeem
To be mean
To be kind. . .
The freedom to be thoughtful
To be thoughtless. . .

The freedom to draw, to write, to sing, to dance, to paint, to soar. . .
The freedom to be expressive regardless of what others may think or feel.
Will you inspire or will you be despised?
Will you be a bridge or will you be destructive?

The freedom to be honorable towards others.
The freedom to believe.
The freedom to turn away.

The responsibility to honor and defend life
Or
The freedom to take life

The freedom to dishonor.
The responsibility to respect.

What is your responsibility?

The freedom and responsibility to defend Freedom
Yet what then is the responsibility of freedom?

“All of Creation is made by the Holy Trinity acting in communion as an outpouring of Love and Grace.”
Excerpt for January newsletter from St Isaac’s Orthodox Skete.

Vigilance

“The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.”
John Philpot Curran

The preservation of peace and the guaranteeing of man’s basic freedoms and rights require courage and eternal vigilance: courage to speak and act – and if necessary, to suffer and die – for truth and justice; eternal vigilance, that the least transgression of international morality shall not go undetected and unremedied.
Haile Selassie

(sparrow / Savannah, Georgia / Julie Cook / 2014)

As I turn on the news each evening or peruse the electronic news feeds, I am constantly reminded, by the headlines of the day, of the perilous balance of liberties and freedoms–the same liberties and freedoms that we have grown blindly accustomed to. The freedoms that the Western World always seems to take for granted.

Our liberties, of which we merely assume are enjoyed around the world, those that are threatened on a daily basis, as the simple freedom of living is put to the test across the globe.
The freedom to worship.
The freedom to vote.
The freedom to choose an education—or not
The freedom to work as one wishes.
The freedom to live where one chooses.
The freedom to shop as one desires.
The freedom to dress as one pleases.
The freedom to travel openly.

All of which we take for granted—assuming to be our God given right.
We take as a given of simply being. . .
But oh how tenuous is the balance which the world hangs between. . .that of tyranny, oppression and death.

I do not propose that we of the “free world” are to be the police of the remainder of this world, nor are we to necessarily impose our form of belief upon others. . .but oh how I wish that those in this world, who continue to impose violence upon woman and children, those who impose death upon their fellow countrymen, those who wish death upon the innocents, or those who live to destroy our way of life, could / would understand that thuggery, death, violence, coercion, manipulation, torture, are not the answer.

May we be mindful to remain vigilant rather than rest in our complacency. . .