Aloha;
With this first day of July, our summer hits full swing. We begin by remembering, and celebrating the founding of the country; on the fourth day of this month. It is the time for fireworks and flags; oration and libation; picnics and parades. As well as honoring the sacrifices our society has endured along the way.
One of the main tenets of the holiday we cherish is our reverence for the tenets of freedom. Birth cry of our nation, freedom is at the heart of all we have accomplished as a nation. And all that we hold dear.
While there will be long conversation about the value of our freedom, or the price we must pay to keep it. We at FLP are forced to wonder how much of the coming ceremony, pomp, and tradition, will reference what we as a country will do with the freedom we now enjoy, and employ.
It is a common understanding in our country, that one person’s rights do and must end, where another person’s rights begin. However within those constraints (assuming they are even respected) there are still a great many possibilities we still use our freedom to pursue.
The unfettered option to choose or not choose, based on the dictates of one’s own personal determination. And these decisions independent of any coercive influence from others. This is a goal all humans desire to have, or gain. Yet there is more to freedom than an unrestricted list of personal options.
In society, (particularly in our society) we purport to care about the access to self direction, and self-realization. For ourselves and for our fellow citizens (and fellow human beings). Yet many people behave as if freedom is a zero sum game. And that the more they have, the less is left available for others.
But liberty, as we understand it, is a condition of possibility. When a society has the conditions that allows freedom to flourish, it has the ability to provide, and shape access to opportunity (choice) for its’ members. Have that same society in agreement, and the freedom to be, and choose, is expanded for all.
When a society seeks or decides to limit, restrict, or deny the freedom of some of its’ members instead, there is conflict. And they may generate such ill will, that it damages liberty for everyone. Since no one enjoys having their free choice arbitrarily curtailed, or denied. The inherent dissatisfaction of the members suppressed within that culture will interfere with, and impede, the healthy development of their society.
Whereas, when the human striving for aspiration, and free expression, (which we all share) is acknowledged, and honestly considered. And it is channeled along agreed upon productive paths of discourse and action. Then our pursuit for, and love of liberty, is secured. Even reinforced by our mutual appreciation of the yearning for freedom.
Always remembering that humanities’ greatest asset is human beings. We will continue to fall short of our full potential, while we fail to allow large groups of people the chance to have the freedom we all hold dear.
Respectfully Yours,
J. A. Stubbs, Editor-In-Chief
Forgotten Lore Publishing, llc