What is freedom? What do the inalienable rights we are born with, the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness mean? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, freedom is “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action”. Freedom is also the “liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another”.
We are all born with freedom.
We are all born with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The right to do what we want, to make our own choices, and to think and speak freely.
These are our individual rights.
Picture yourself surrounded by a bubble. This bubble represents your rights, your freedom. It stays with you wherever you go and within it you can say and do whatever you want. However, your bubble cannot shrink someone else’s bubble. Your bubble cannot pop someone else’s bubble. The only way to affect someone else’s bubble is by reaching outside of your own. Similarly, it is not within any of our rights to limit or take away someone else’s freedom.
As individuals, we have the right to do whatever we want with our freedom as long as we are not preventing someone else from exercising their own rights and freedom.
It is essential that we understand and appreciate our rights, our freedom. We need to understand what our individual rights do and do not encompass. We need to be able to recognize when our rights are being threatened or tread upon and we need to defend our rights whenever this happens.
We need to protect our rights, our freedom, from being minimized or dissolved. We must defend our rights, our bubble, at all costs or we will find our freedom stripped away.
It is up to each and every one of us as individuals to exercise our rights and push back whenever our freedom is threatened be it by another individual, an organization, or the government.
What’s the difference between exercising my rights and my freedom and limiting someone else’s?
Well, I have every right to call myself a man, a woman, or a dragon. I have every right to call you a man, a woman, or a dragon. You have every right to agree or disagree with me. I do NOT have the right to make you call me a man, a woman, or a dragon. Nor do I have the right to make you call yourself a man, a woman, or a dragon.
I am exercising my freedom if I choose to walk around in a giant plastic bag to keep me safe. I am limiting your freedom if I force you to walk around in a giant plastic bag.
Neighbors, Pat and Bob, are exercising their freedom by painting their houses with bright pink letters. Bob’s house says “Trump” all over it, while Pat’s house says “Trump Sucks” all over the outside of his house.
Bob would be limiting Pat’s freedom if he attempted to make Pat paint over the word “Sucks” every time it appeared on the outside of Pat’s house. Pat would be limiting Bob’s freedom if he attempted to make Bob paint the word “Sucks” after “Trump” every time it appeared on the outside of Bob’s house. If Pat’s paint offends Bob or Bob’s paint offends Pat, they have every right to close their blinds and pretend the other’s house does not exist. They do NOT have the right to make the other’s house cease to exist.
We are free to say and do what we want. We do NOT have the power to make someone else say or do what we want. We are NOT free to infringe upon someone else’s rights. We are simply free to make our own choices and say what we want.
Our freedom, our bubble, is not unbreakable. Protect your rights, your freedom, your bubble. We must STOP the government from stealing and ignoring our freedoms. We must NOT allow others to step on our freedom either.
Protect your rights and your freedom. The smallest concession can pop your bubble and end your freedom.
Defend your rights. Defend your freedom. Defend your bubble.
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