I’m afraid our children are growing up in a time when freedom is so misunderstood, where history is forgotten and never taught anymore and where groups of individuals are bent on forcing others to conform to their ideals. I have spoken of this before.
Today, Thomas Sowell shares his thoughts about freedom.
“Freedom ultimately means the right of other people to do things that you do not approve of. Nazis were free to be Nazis under Hitler. It is only when you are able to do things that other people don’t approve that you are free.”
Why is it that we have a problem with people doing things we might not like or approve of? When some see what they disapprove of, they move to create a law to stop it or in some fashion attempt to impose their own ideals.
Sowall further explains the two sides of freedom snatching.
“In other words, people on the left want the right to impose their idea of what is good for society on others– a right that they vehemently deny to those whose idea of what is good for society differs from their own.
“The essence of bigotry is refusing to others the rights that you demand for yourself. Such bigotry is inherently incompatible with freedom, even though many on the left would be shocked to be considered opposed to freedom”
Stop for a moment and give yourself a bit of a self exam. Does this describe you? Are you one wishing to impose your personal beliefs onto others? And if so, by what means do you choose to do that?
Perhaps you are one of the “all about me” society, a bigot, greedily clinging to your preferred “rights” while at the same time doing everything in your power to make sure others can’t have what you have.
I would suppose that some of what makes people greedy in this respect comes from their past. My father was a generous man who had little. He was a hard working guy, busting his butt often 7 days a week to make sure his family was fed and clothed. When he had not a nickel to his name, I remember he would open his home to others and share what was left of the food, with no thought about how he would be fed the next day.
When you grow up living that experience, it stays with you and as such it defines much of the person you become.
I love freedom and can’t imagine why others would want to deny that God given right to others. It makes no sense.
My wife is always reminding me that you can attract more bees with honey than with vinegar. This may be true but snagging a bee and shoving his face into a pot of honey will only kill the bee. The bee will not be able to understand the full experience of finding honey shared by someone else.
Isn’t that what we are supposed to carry through life? God told us not to hide the light under a bushel basket. He said let it shine so others can see it and want it. Never did he tells us to force our ideals and beliefs onto others nor should we keep to ourselves the freedom of everlasting life.
Tom Remington
