Freedom Is Like That

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It is our common desire
to see the lives of our loved-ones improved,
to see poverty eliminated from among us,
to see friends have an opportunity to flourish,
to see those who are sick cared for,
to see our elders supported in their waning years,
to see children protected and educated,
happy and prosperous.

We can disagree about means,
but the end we seek is the same.
It is about achieving lofty goals
set before us by our shared humanity.
It is about increasing liberty and justice,
not just mouthing the rhetoric of freedom.

It is about each of us
learning to give to others
the freedom we all seek,
the freedom
to live, to work, to worship (or not),
the freedom
to love whom we choose,
the freedom
to pursue happiness as we each perceive it,
the freedom
to do what we choose to do
so long as our actions do not harm others.

Freedom is about granting to others
what we wish for ourselves.

By choosing to withhold that freedom from others
our own freedom is ultimately lost to us.
By refusing to recognize the rights of others
our own rights are thereby diminished.

I've heard it said that love is a gift which,
when given freely to others,
is increased for those who do the giving.

Well, freedom is like that, too.