Monday Meditation
Freedom for what?
We’ve heard a lot about freedom lately. We’ll hear more in the days to come. Freedom is the core value of our nation. It’s the heart of democracy: the land of the free and the home of the brave. Patrick Henry famously said, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Thomas Jefferson considered the Religious Freedom Act, to be on of his great accomplishments. The list goes on. Yet, not everyone has the same understanding of freedom.
Once upon a time, our family traveled to Washington, DC for the July 4 parade. We arrived very early for a good spot on Pennsylvania Avenue near the curb so our daughters could see the parade. A few minutes before the parade set to start, a couple of people squeezed through the crowds to place their chairs right in front of us. Our daughters could no longer see. I asked them not to sit there because they were blocking the view. They replied, “it’s a free country and we can sit wherever we want. You are free to move.” Rather than continue a heated argument, we maneuvered ourselves to see over them. It was not ideal. I’ve never forgotten that comment, “it’s a free country we can do whatever we want” because it seems to be repeated over and over again. The attitude gained new prominence during the peak of the Covid era, and remains. In my more agitated, unkind moments, I think this is the core ethic of the MAGA movement.
There a different understanding of freedom embedded in the origin of this nation. It’s the freedom to serve others. For a certain generation it was captured in JFK’s declaration, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” I, like many others, had that seared into my conscience. The origin of the Peace Corps came from the same understanding. Freedom has a purpose that is not merely self-indulgent. Neither is it what Janis Joplin sang, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” So I get a bit irritated by the loose use and especially abuse of freedom. “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” doesn’t quite suit either. It reminds me of the saying of Albert Schweitzer that has been in my office wall for nearly 40 years: “The only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who have sought and found a way to serve.”
So with all the talk about freedom, let us be quick to ask, “freedom from what, and freedom for whom?”
Finally, here is a comment about the freedom that undergirds all other freedom.
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Freedom belongs to the core of the spiritual life; not just the freedom that releases us from forces that want to oppress us, but the freedom also to forgive others, to serve them, and to form a new bond of fellowship with them. In short, the freedom to love and to work for a free world.
Henri Nouwen
