So what does freedom mean to you?

(c) 2015 by P. Lynne Designs

Happy birthday to America AND to me….

Well not yet for me, but it is my birthday month, and I am excited.  I got over the hump of a new decade for me last year. (I am 10 years old for the 5^th time, do the math).  I will get to that post later on in the month. 

The birthday baby I want to talk about is America’s birthday (July 4^th), and celebrating its Independence Day.  This is the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, and freedom from England was a done deal. 

So what does freedom mean to you?

For me it means being able to move freely throughout the country, without question on where you are going, why you are going, what are you going to do when you get there, and who are you going with.  Or is it?  Sometimes I wonder about that.

If freedom means to move throughout the country without being stopped for driving a nicer car and the police stopping you, because they think you stole the car you are driving.  There should not be any problems.  If freedom means being able to walk down the street without a police officer immediately handcuffing you, because you recently walked out of a store, and being accused of stealing an item, or worst yet, shot and killed, there should not be any problems.  If freedom means you can worship wherever you want, without being killed for no reason or having your place of worship being burned to the ground, there should not be any problems.   These are the problems that the African American community, which I identify with, has been going through for the past 4 years. 

Think these are isolated incidences?  It has been a constant on and off situation since slavery was abolished.  I am tired of being treated as a second-class citizen.  We as a race are tired of being treated as second-class citizens.  This is not India, where the class system has been abolished for a number of years.  This is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Where did you think we were going after slavery was done away with, back to Africa? I don’t think so, but yet there are still people, who want us to know our place, especially if you are a black man, but the problem does not stop there.

We are killing each other over territorial rights, this gang does not like the other gang, and people get jealous over the success of others.  When we need the authorities the most, they do not come and take care of the situation.  Do not get me started on the war on drugs.  Yes, the government does a mediocre to fair job on keeping drugs out of the country.  Today, I was listening to the news, and heard about a pill form of heroin. Really now? You drug dealers are stupid enough to get your customer even higher than before, yet killing them at the same time, because they cannot remember when was the last time they took one.  You call it business, I call it stupid. Legalize marijuana?  Nothing like a bunch of weed heads being able to get high without being arrested for possession and doing harm at the same time.  I do believe it is called alcohol.

I do not mean to go off like that, but if we want freedom, we as individuals need to take a look at what does it mean to have that freedom.  Yes, we do have it better than most countries on this planet, but at what cost?  Our founding fathers of this country wanted freedom, to not be ruled by another country, but again are we?  There is more than one type of freedom, and we ALL are not fully free to do that.  When we are all free, this can be a beautiful place to live in, if you let it.