What is more
valuable to a free man than his freedom?
Is it safety? Comfort? Love?
Whatever treasures one can name, each of them, without freedom, is
sooner or later, forfeit.
Our freedoms
are not separate items on a list. They
are all interlocked and interdependent.
Take away any part of freedom, and all of it begins to crumble. Without freedom of speech, all of freedom
suffocates in a soundless vacuum.
Without freedom of worship, the soul of freedom is lost. Without the freedom to arm oneself, defeat by
tyranny is inevitable. Freedom is a way
of life.
Moreover,
add to the body of freedom anything that it is not, then there also, freedom is
cheapened and eroded. There is no
freedom from being offended, no freedom from want, nor any freedom that
guarantees happiness.
Freedom is
not license; it is a heavy responsibility.
Used unwisely, for example to wallow in the excesses of physical
pleasure, it is wasted and soon lost. Its
abuse brings misfortune and ruin. The
proper use of freedom is to employ it in the promotion of justice tempered with
mercy, to protect the innocent, to educate, to produce the advances in the arts
and sciences which give mankind dignity and a sense of worth. It nourishes both the inward self, and at the
same time, guides us outward, toward that which is greater than the self.
Nothing
about freedom is simple or easy. That is
why so many men squander it, and cast it as one might pearls before swine. That is why tyrants arise, armed not only
with the sword, but with lies and deception, with promises of riches that are
not earned, and of treasures that are stolen from others.
Freedom is
not given; it is taken, by force if necessary.
The free man takes his freedom, and then shares its blessings with
others who also strive to take their own freedom. The free man owes his freedom to no one but
God, but he readily expresses his gratitude for it to Him, and to those who
have bled and suffered and died to protect it.
The free man
seeks for his own good first, but does so that he may seek it for others as
well. Indeed, the free man is selfless
enough to lay down his life for it. As
with love, freedom is not selfish, nor boastful, nor arrogant. It seeks not to rule others, nor to take away
anyone else’s freedom, but rather to serve freedom’s cause for everyone who
will have it.
Pity those
who do not value freedom above all else, for to them, all else will soon be
lost.
