Freedom's Cost

Memorial Day is a time of remembrance that originated after the Civil War.  Mourning the soldiers lost in battle helps us to grasp the great cost paid to remain a free and independent nation.

I think too often we confuse freedom with safety.  Freedom is the ability to choose.  Safety is a feeling that we need not fear because we have surrendered the risk of danger to others.  It comes with a hidden danger, though.  It is the danger that those to whom we have surrendered will abuse that trust.  The nature of humans is such that those who seek control do so for their own gain and will use the power given to them for their own purposes.

I subscribe more to the philosophy of Patrick Henry who said, "Give me liberty or give me death."  Let me make my own decisions about what to believe and whom to trust.  Grant me the freedom to fail, to risk and to challenge those who would seek to block me from the pursuit of happiness in the way that I would choose.

I believe the best government is the least government.  Society needs agreed upon rules of order that protect citizens from abuse.  People do not need a "nanny state" that controls every aspect of their lives.  Happiness cannot exist in the absence of choice.

Some would argue that the government must protect those who society deems to be inferior or different.  My question is simply, who defines the inferior or different?  The innocent, the powerless and the incapable should certainly be protected.  That should primarily be the role of community, friends and family.  

Abuse of others should never be tolerated but it is not the role of government to define what is to be considered as abuse because by making that determination they create new forms of abuse.  There must always be mechanisms by which the citizens can quickly and easily correct that abuse.  Otherwise, the ultimate price will again be paid as was the case in the U.S. Civil War.

Life shouldn't be about safety and living under the dominion of abusive power.  It should be about choosing to face the challenges, to overcome the odds, to create and build, to love and to cherish those whom we would choose without the interference of abusive power.

On this Memorial Day let's remember the ideal that those who paid the ultimate price fought and died for.  Let's focus on freedom.  That includes the freedom to be wrong, to make mistakes and to fail.

The Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) is one of my favorite flowers of summer.  They were not native to the area where I grew up but are common where I now live.  Their blooming is a sure sign that Summer is near.  The one pictured below is wild although many times they are found in cultivated beds, safely tended by their masters.  I prefer the wild and free ones who blossom where they choose.