Put simply, the opposite of freedom and democracy is autocratic leadership or dictatorship (i.e. Hitler & Putin to name a few). Freedom is an interesting word, because currently our country is divided–both groups want freedom–one through democracy and the other wants freedom from government. So why are many Americans seemingly wanting to take Democracy and freedom away from us–have they taken their democratic freedom for granted? One author’s (James Ssekamatte) description of his experience living under a dictatorship was: “the worst part of living in a dictatorship is not the oppression, but rather the surrender that comes with a sense of powerlessness”. Certainly nothing I want to sign up for any time soon.
Back in the 70’s I joined the Air Force to not only visit but live in one of my ancestral countries–Germany. While stationed there as a nurse, I was very interested to visit one of the Jewish concentration camps–Dachau (located near Munich). What an experience! There was such a dark, heavy feeling throughout this huge complex. However, good on the Germans for leaving several of these camps open for people to see and understand the atrocities that occurred there as a result of Hitler’s dictatorship which included white supremacy–we can not forget!
President Abraham Lincoln captured it best when he said, “Freedom is the last, best hope of earth.” It is something we should cherish rather than take for granted.
It’s for that reason that we should celebrate, offer thanks to God and validate feelings we don’t even understand through celebrations that cannot possibly capture how we should feel about this great nation in which we are blessed to live. Throughout history the men and women who have made it possible through many hard-fought battles to ensure that we are never without the very freedoms we so often easily assume are just going to be there day after day.
It’s easy to do since most of us can’t recall a time in our lives when we weren’t free (other than those who immigrated to our country from an oppressive authoritarian regime). The freedom that President Lincoln spoke so beautifully about is something we’ve grown accustomed to, something that comes as naturally, and truly is as expected, as having air to breathe and food to eat–we have been blessed for many years.
Question: Did you know there is a National Freedom Day celebrated the 1st of February each year? I sure didn’t. February 1st holds significance because that was the date Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery in 1865. On June 30, 1948, President Harry Truman signed a bill proclaiming February 1st as the first official National Freedom Day in the United States.
It was the dream of men willing to put quill to parchment, risking their lives for the sake of something they loved more than life–liberty. And through their declarations of freedom they took up a cause far more powerful than even their words could describe.
In so doing, they brought a new nation to life, and with it the freedoms we all enjoy today.
It is those freedoms we should give thought to not just when we celebrate July 4th, Memorial Day, and National Freedom Day, but every day. It is those freedoms for which we should praise our Higher Power, freedoms that give us hope, inspire us to action and remind us of those who so bravely died upholding its cause.
America’s freedom is forever tied to the birth of this great nation. And though battle-scarred and different from what our forefathers might have envisioned, this nation and the freedoms she stands for define who we are individually and collectively. It’s what sets us apart.
It’s what this celebration we call the Fourth of July should really be about–honoring freedom and standing up for it at every turn. But more than that, it’s a celebration we should have more often, if in no other place than in our hearts.
As one of my favorite Joni Mitchell songs goes–”Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone–they’ve paved paradise–-put up a parking lot.”
We should never take our freedoms for granted and we should understand that with those freedoms come great responsibilities, those we should pass on from generation to generation so freedom’s light will forever burn in the hearts and minds of every American.
“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom.” –Martin Luther King, Jr
Covid19 Humor: Never in my whole life would I have imagined my hands would consume more alcohol than my mouth.