So, today is the 4th of July, and I think it's a good day to talk about freedom. So, there are obviously a few things that come to mind, ranging from gratefulness that I live in a place where I have a voice in my rulers to distaste that there is still more slavery today than at anytime in history... and it's in America.
It's hard to know which way to go with this post, honestly... do I play the patriot or the cynic? Or can I be both at the same time? I think I can. Yeah... let's give that a try.
This morning, I'm just sitting here in my comfortable city dwelling feeling happy that my kids are here, but entertaining themselves. And that my husband has the day off, but is still sleeping. And that I own things. And that it's sunny out, but not brutal (that one has nothing to do with freedom.... I'm fairly certain that they had sun in communist Russia.... although anytime I've read anything about it, my mental reel plays an overcast sky).
So... freedom. Yeah, here's the thing. While I'm sitting here basking in the freedom that I have, I can't push aside the thoughts that even in our country there are people who technically are just as free as me, but run up against systemic oppression and cultural barriers. I'm not going to go into it.... honestly because I have too much to say about it for what I want this to be today.
But I guess even with that reality in my near vicinity, I find joy in the concept of freedom. Because while our human ideas of free and, moreover, our human implementation of freedom are so flawed and unfair, it is a mirror. The desire for freedom that is in us reflects a truer freedom. We all seem to know that the freedom we experience should be more complete... that it should reach more people... that it should bring peace or come from peace or somehow in someway be related to peace.
The thing is that it's hard to really pin it down, but sometimes, we just know that something is not quite how it ought to be. We want something better, not selfishly, but for others as well. We who celebrate our independence today want to see the oppressed set free. (Not to get political, but really... can we not just admit that the people who support continuing military efforts in Iraq do so not because of oil, but because they do actually value freedom? Please don't think you understand anything about my personal political views based on that sentence because most likely you don't. I'm just saying that people I've talked to who support the war(s) do so because they truly do care that people be free.)
Anyway... there's this yearning... this hope for more... this understanding that the world is not quite right.... the idea that no one should be able to own someone, or politically enslave them, or emotionally enslave them. There's this truth that no matter what political system is in place, there are still people who are tied down by pain and abuse. And though they may have the right to vote, they are captives in their own lives everyday. So it becomes glaringly obvious that the government can only do so much and there is a deeper bondage that they are bound by. And we wonder.... Where is freedom for them? And why should I experience it more than they?
Freedom is a hard thing... and a messy thing... and a hopeful thing.
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