Blog 3155 – 06.20.2024

Free At Last

Liberty is an innate desire and I believe an inalienable right. We are born with it and struggle with the bonds and imposed boundaries that others and even ourselves put on us from the beginnings of our days till last of our days.

My son and daughter-in-law sent me the short clip above of our Emma climbing up in her playpen, getting down, grabbing her doll, climbing up again with doll in hand, and flinging her doll to freedom. It would seem though Emma cannot get her self out of her confinement she still wants her dolly to be free. (I am sure if Emma was not content to be in the play pen that she would disturb the peace till they got her out.)

My point is that the deep desire to be free that flows in all of us carries with it the desire for others to experience liberty as well. We cannot truly enjoy our own liberty without extending that same privilege to others. Founding Father Patrick Henry is famous for his pre-American revolution quote, “Give me liberty or give me death.” That got me thinking this morning so I Googled, “Did Patrick Henry ever own slaves?” And I found the following:

Some would gloss over this terrible blot on American history that this country was founded and built on the backs of slaves and poor immigrants who worked long hours for no pay or little pay, even their children, to make rich white men even richer.

Sadly some people still think a certain class of people exist only to make them rich and that liberty and the finer things in life are only for the best, to hell with the rest. Some are even talking about another Civil War coming because those rich white men fear they are being replaced. Make America Great Again for many is just code for Make America White again. Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech quoted a black gospel song, “Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, I’m feeling at last.”

That reminds me of another great quote about freedom: “None of us is free till all of us are free.” Trying to find the original author of that quote, I found the following:

The Pledge to the Flag concludes “…with liberty and justice for all” not just rich white guys.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White