Free…Let’s Stay That Way

Our thoughts this week are to be on living in a free nation, and, yes, I am glad of it. In last year’s post. [ Now, It’s ‘Independence Day’ To Me posted on July 6, 2012]
I talked about how I had not paid much attention to what Independence Day meant and how the American Revolution was brought to reality for me when I read Cokie Roberts’ book, “Founding Mothers”. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know the whys and wherefores, the sacrifices and the reason they felt it all justified; to go to such measures to be independent. Spoiler Alert: It had very little to do with just the tax on tea.

In this year’s post I need to speak for my conscience’s sake. I have to say that I admire the Revolutionaries, those who have kept our freedoms and especially the people of my parent’s generation, those who pulled together and made it through WWII. Our Hound, Jeff Salter, has a new novel,“Called To Arms Again” out that brings some of that generation’s sacrifices to light, [see yesterday’s post], and there are many more that were made every day; no family was left untouched. I fear that few people know what the country went through in those years, and I fear that even fewer know how close we are to losing our freedom in many ways. Laws have been passed and measures taken that have removed some safety measures that ensure our freedoms. They have not been used much; many claim that it is for our protection, but our country and much of the world has relied on the same rights outlined in the Magna Carta, (The Great Charter), since the year 1215 A.D. We need to keep those rights.
We need to be aware and make sure that our lawmakers are also aware. Many bills are signed and passed that have measures in them that no member of Congress has time to read, and may not realize that the provisions may well be used against citizens. I don’t think any one party, any one person, is responsible or if they even expect the safe-guards of freedom, which CAN be removed, to actually BE removed. Still, we must all keep our eyes open.
In thinking of the freedom that we have in the U.S.A., two movie scenes come to my mind. One is from the movie “Dr.Zhivago”. Dr. Z comes back home after being conscripted during the Russian revolution to find his family mansion taken over and his family forced into a couple of unheated rooms.(For those of you not familiar with the book, “Dr.Zhivago”, it is much more political than the movie. It shows a much harsher reality. It is NOT a love story between the doctor and Lara. He loves his wife; he in infatuated with Lara. He never tries to find Lara even when he can and later lives with a young woman who has a couple of children by him. The poems as the author, Boris Pasternak, wrote in the style of Dr.Zhivago are good. I like Boris Pasternak’s other poetry better.) Their country was turned upside-down in short order. True, there were terrible inequalities in their society, but there had to have been a better way to help the wronged instead of wronging everyone.
The other scene also deals with Russians. In “The Hunt For Red October”, Sean Connery’s Russian submarine captain-character is talking to Sam Neill’s exec.-officer’s–character about what they want to do when they get to America. Neill’s character says he’d like to live in Montana, then asks if they would they let him live in Montana. Connery’s captain says that he thinks he can go anywhere he wants to in America; the officer then relishes the thought…and adds that he also wants a fat American wife and a Winebago. How little thought we give to being able to move where we like  and if we have the money, to buy a Winnebago…and pick whatever shape of spouse we’d like.

May we continue to be the free-est country in the world. May we never take any of it for granted. And may we always find peaceful ways to encourage freedom in rest the world.

Advertisement