The Simple Things

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy? - Oscar Wilde

A summons

Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience – almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one's deepest beliefs and values to reasonedpublic debate. In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good (cf. Spe Salvi, 24). Few have understood this as clearly as the late Pope John Paul II. In reflecting on the spiritual victory of freedom over totalitarianism in his native Poland and in eastern Europe, he reminded us that history shows, time and again, that “in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation”, and a democracy without values can lose its very soul (cf. Centesimus Annus, 46). Those prophetic words in some sense echo the conviction of President Washington, expressed in his Farewell Address, that religion and morality represent “indispensable supports” of political prosperity.


--Benedict XVI

Did they beat the drums lowly?

Unfettered

What's money? A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." - Bob Dylan

The Rhyme of the Restless Ones

We couldn’t sit and study for the law;
The stagnation of a bank we couldn’t stand;
For our riot blood was surging,
And we didn’t need much urging
To excitements and excesses that are banned.
So we took to wine and drink and other things,
And the devil in us struggled to be free;
Til our friends rose up in wrath,
And they pointed out the path,
And they paid our debts and packed us o’er the sea.

Oh, they shook us off and shipped us o’er the foam,
To the larger lands that lure a man to roam;
And we took the chance they gave,
Of a far and foreign grave,
And we bade good-bye forevermore to home.

And some of us are climbing on the peak,
And some of us are camping on the plain,
By pine and palm you’ll find us,
With never claim to bind us,
By track and trail you’ll meet us once again.

We are fated serfs to freedom – sky and sea;
We have failed where slummy cities overflow;
But the stranger ways of Earth
Know our pride and worth,
And we go into the dark as fighters go.

Yes, we go into the night as brave men go,
Though our faces they be often streaked with woe;
Yet we’re hard as cats to kill,
And our hearts are reckless still,
And we’ve danced with death a dozen times or so.

And you’ll find us in Alaska after gold,
And you’ll find us herding cattle in the south.
We like strong drink and fun,
And, when the race is run,
We often die with curses in our mouth.
We are wild as colts unbroken, but never mean.
Of our sins we’ve shoulders broad to bear the blame;
But we’ll never stay in town
And we’ll never settle down,
And we’ll never have an object or an aim.

No, there’s that in us that time can never tame;
And life will always seem a careless game;
And they’d better far forget –
Those who say they love us yet –
Forget, blot out with bitterness our name.--Robert W. Service

Ora et Labora

Work, which makes a man free, and thought, which makes him worthy of freedom. --Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Freedom

"Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice." -G. K. Chesterton

Rocks and Sticks and Knives and Pain

What is fear? The dictionary says that fear is a distressed emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the treat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. Fear can also be defined as reverential awe, specifically awe toward God. The second meaning, at least in my mind, is the more insightful definition in that it portrays some of the emotion felt in fear. That emotion is respect. I can think of no instance when something is feared and not respected because if something does not have respect then it is not worthy of fear. This separates fear from the act being afraid. If one is afraid of something one does not necessarily respect it. Fear, because of the respect it has, can therefore become terror. Terror is simply an overpowering feeling of fear, although terror can not be described as simple. An emotion so powerful that it can completely nullify the senses or can inspire greatness. Fear and terror are forces to be reckoned with and there are substances and instances which are worthy of fear. There is nothing wrong in fearing something, some things should be feared. There is, however, something wrong with being afraid of fear, or more namely, as fear is worthy of respect, of fearing fear. If one fears fear then one can lose their freedom. Fear should never control our actions, it should inspire within us courage. In the words of Victor Hugo:

The man on the run, let us repeat, is a man inspired. There is starlight and lightning in the mysterious glow of flight, and the straining for liberty is no less remarkable than the soaring of the spirit to the sublime. To ask, as we do of Corneille, 'when did he know that he was dying?'

Hugo talks of a man in fear of being caught, but the man is not controlled, he is instead inspired to acts of daring, to acts of courage, to acts of greatness; the man is free in his flight for freedom.