FREEDOM COSTS

FWR Says:  The freedom of one person costs many others

There are so many different kinds of freedom - well beyond our listing. We have freedom from bombs, freedom from harm, from disease, from prejudice, from abuse - and so on and so on.

Each of our freedoms comes at a great cost to others. More freedom for one means less freedom for another. It is easy to trace the history of our national freedom and all the others. So, while we all seem to want more freedom we should be careful who loses what we ask for.

The teen who thinks that a life of freedom comes from no parent control doesn’t get it. He doesn’t know the cost to the family for him being here. He has no idea of all the freedoms he already has, thanks to the efforts and costs of his family.

That teen doesn’t know the history of what it cost for him to go to school. Today’s school costs, though high, don’t match the efforts and sacrifices made in the past to provide education. This is true for most of us for the freedoms we have.

Teenage is a magic time when a person can experiment how he handles freedom. It is a time when parents leave him some wiggle room. It is also a time when he should be thinking about his next steps into work, family and parenthood. He doesn’t have too much time for all that.

With all the types of freedom, there is one that is basic to all of us. It is the internal freedom that we can have if we chose well. Many people of faith have that freedom. It makes other forms of freedom less important despite our conditions.

Ghandi is a prime example of one with inner freedom. On that base, he brought social freedom to millions. The cost was high. He had to live with the cost of strict personal discipline. In the end, he paid for these freedoms with his life.

FWR says:  Before we demand another freedom, count the cost to others.