Thinking About Freedom

The Fourth of July celebrations are behind us. Summer nights are once again quiet, the firework stands are gone and our streets are absent of floats and marching bands. And yet, our freedom still reigns. 

Freedom is my theme for the month of July. Not just political freedom, but our physical, mental, emotional freedoms.

A few years back, a friend gave me a gift. She bought me a t-shirt that says, “Life Behind Bars.” Those bars are my bicycle bars, where I experience the freedom of riding in wide open spaces.   

But, my t-shirt makes me think twice about freedom whenever I wear it.  

I’ve never spent any time behind the bars of a jailhouse. I can’t even imagine what that would feel like. But I have spent time behind the bars of my own making and I know what that feels like. 

The bars of my own making are sometimes constructed out of fear, sometimes constructed out of anxiety, sometimes constructed out of lies and sometimes constructed out of my own wild imaginings. 

These bars of my own making are just as restrictive as the real bars of a jailhouse cell. These bars I construct are as real as any jail house bars. These bars of my own making enclose me in a cell about the same size as an elevator. 

The bars I construct out of fear, anxiety, lies or my wild imaginings are just as restrictive, confining, and limiting as a small jail cell. 

When someone is incarcerated, they have to do their time. But when we put ourselves in our own jail cells, we don’t have to do our time. Our release is not dependent upon anyone else. Our release is dependent upon ourselves. 

Why Bother?

Why bother thinking about freedom? Freedom, whether political or personal, is a privilege that we have to actively maintain. Thus, freedom is something important for us to actively think about.