Happy Birthday America
Today is Independence Day, more commonly known to Americans as the 4th of July. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the soldiers who are currently engaged in any way to protect America or fight for freedom for others; especially those in Afghanistan right now.
I also want to say I never take my freedom for granted. America is not a perfect country by far; I have many, many issues with it, its foreign policies with other countries, its corporate whoring ways....I could go on and on. But I do have freedoms so many others in the world do not have and for that I am eternally grateful.
I think of Neda, the young girl shot in Iran, shot and killed for what? Standing outside amongst a group of protesters? I have the right to protest my government without fear of repercussions. I have the freedom to burn the flag, to scream in the streets "I hate the government!" without fear of ending up with a bullet in my chest. I can go where I want, with whom I want. I can travel freely (with a passport of course, haha) and worship whatever god or gods I wish to worship.
I cannot yell "Fire" in a crowded theater without getting in trouble. So I think there are some limits to my freedoms. ; )
But basically I have a great life - the freedom to choose my own path in life (I apparently chose a tough one, ha), the freedom to succeed, to fail, to come and go, to vote or not vote, to believe in God or believe in small green gnomes...you get the idea.
I have these freedoms because of so many people that came before me who fought and often died for their beliefs, their ideals, their values...for my chance to live with the freedoms they only dreamt of.
I have the freedom to end a sentence with a preposition.
God Bless the nameless, faceless Others, who fought, died and won this day for me and so many others.
I am not a particularly patriotic person. But today I am. Because freedom ISN'T free and sometimes it's important we remember that. I know I do, today.
3 comments:
beautiful. simply beautiful. thanks for this.
"I have the freedom to burn the flag, to scream in the streets "I hate the government!" without fear of ending up with a bullet in my chest."
Not yet.
Have you read the constitution/ bill of rights lately? The writers' passion and determination still makes me cry. Qualities we don't seem to care about anymore.
I know you guys hate smoking, but what about the big cigarette lobby? They just had some kind of hearings in DC about being pissed off that little companies can sell their cigarettes for so cheap. They're losing their revenue. So the US courts decided the little companies (we get ours from the reservation) have to INCREASE their prices so they're more in line with what the big guys charge.
WTF kind of freedom and capitalism is this? What happened to healthy competition? That would drive all prices DOWN, not raise them. Even if i wasn't a smoker, i'd be furious. Frankly, i don't think the little guy has a chance anywhere in this country anymore. And that's what we are.
Well, I guess we still have the freedom to blog different opinions!'
I know there are a million ways we are imprisoned in this country. But I still think if I go out on my corner now and scream my guts out all I'm going to get is someone yelling "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" ; )
I guess America is the lesser of all evils to me.
Word of the day: talibi
Too close to Taliban for me! Haha! An alibi for the Taliban?
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