Freedom

A friend recently posted some thoughts about "freedom". Americans are rather fond of (mis)using the word, usually to connote "freedom to do/have whatever I want, at the expense of others if necessary". The feeling slides easily over into a bullying stance, expressed most openly on the freeway.

My thought is that "freedom" is none other than the free will humans have been granted by the Creator. It's an astonishing gift of real power: to decide in every moment how we will be! Will I be happy, or resentful? Will I be loving or unkind? Will I make the day better for the people around me, or worse? Will I appreciate the gifts, large and small, that are presented me, or will I disdain them? What kind of world will I create in this moment?

This "kind" of freedom contains a lot of self-responsibility. (A creator is always responsible for his/her creations.) The other kind actually sustains victimhood, because it's usually voiced as a reaction by someone who's feeling threatened by another's views or actions. Sometimes it's a lot more convenient to make someone else responsible (back seat of the 1957 Rambler station wagon: "He hit me first!!")

I think there's a 'mathematical' equation here, something like:

freedom + self responsibility = true power