A Gift; A Poison

What does freedom mean to you?

I live in the country of freedom.

America, land of the free.

Very nice. Very good.

I can do all kinds of neat stuff with that. I can say what I want, go where I want, do what I want, etc.

Problem though: I say too much, go the wrong places, do the wrong things, and the whole nation is burning.

And the problems are building faster than anyone seems able to deal with them.

Very scary. Very Bad.

Freedom is a nifty, double edged sword. It’s great for cutting in your favor, but if you handle it wrong, it’s gonna take your arm. Or your toe. Maybe an eyeball.

You get the picture.

Freedom to me means I have to make some very, very, very careful choices. No one is forcing me to do what I should be doing. Like go to college (sorry, Dad).

And unfortunately, with my freedom comes about 250 million other peoples freedom, which includes marketing me toxins and addictions, driving like maniacs, ingesting said toxins themselves, etc.

So now I have to watch out for those guys.

So you’re seeing how quickly all of this becomes VERY complicated. Very, very complicated, and scary, and dangerous. Nice.

Now, this is not meant to dissuade you from freedom, not at all. This is to remind you of your responsibility to do a good job with it. A lot of other people are doing horrible, harmful things, and you’re free to be one of them.

But in the end, what comes around, goes around. So, ya know, be good.