If Freedom is Freedom at all, it must be
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” (Nelson Mandela)
Just a few weeks before the Revolutionary war two hundred and forty eight years ago, Patrick Henry spoke to the House of Burgess in Virginia urging the delegates to join efforts for Independence from Great Britain. His words, “Give me liberty or give me death” echo through the centuries as a battlecry for freedom. We hear Henry’s words in Moses’ demands to Pharoah, “Set my people free.” We hear Henry’s words in Jesus’ proclamation, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me… (having) sent me to proclaim release to the captives.” (Luke 4.18) We hear Henry’s words in Abraham Lincoln’s confrontation of “the monstrous injustice of slavery.” We hear Henry’s words in Nelson Mandela’s, “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
The question we must wrestle with today is this. Do we believe in freedom enough to do whatever it takes to respect and enhance the freedom of others? As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so eloquently wrote, “We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.”
The fourth of July is Independence Day, celebrating freedom of the American colonies from Great Britain in 1776. Public displays of patriotism abound; flags, fireworks and parades, bar-b-ques, watermelon and baseball games, simple ways Americans celebrate their gratitude for the freedom we enjoy, the American way.
As we experience this government paid holiday I find myself scratching my head and wondering “How well are we walking on this land of the free, respecting and enhancing the freedom of our sisters and brothers? How free are the poor to access health care and reproductive information? How free are people to work and businesses to engage in commerce? How free are women to choose their medical care and access pay and position equal to their male counterparts? How free are employers to hire whomever they choose? How free are our LGBTQ friends and neighbors to pursue their happiness? How free are folks to protect themselves and not participate in things in which they do not believe? How free are men to express vulnerability or uncertainty? How free are refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to find safe haven and make a better life in this country? How free are each of us to speak and expose unpopular truths? How free are we to tell people in power what they do not want to hear?”
Do you hear this litany of questions? They do not line up on one side of the political aisle nor do they align with a particular religious perspective. Even within religious traditions people of good faith see different ways to move toward what they believe is good. Clearly, there is no simple prescription for freedom. The one thing we may say is, if freedom is freedom at all, it must be freedom for all. Returning to Mandela’s words, “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”
How then shall we “live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others?”
Freedom is not free. It may well cost our lives or land us in prison. But the desire for freedom was sufficient for our ancestors to take the risk, cross the pond and enter this unknown land. The desire for freedom was sufficient for our fledgling nation to wage and win a revolution against Great Britain. The desire for freedom was sufficient to ignite the mass protests of the civil rights movement culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The desire for freedom compels us to bold action.
The thing is, if we want freedom we must be willing to act on faith as did Abraham (see biblical text below) and step onto new ground without knowing where we are going. And yes, this does create disorder, shakes up the status quo. By faith we stay the course, even when it means like barren Sarah we must wait through our old age to bear new life. The thing is, Abraham and his descendants died before receiving the promise of the City of God, but they paved the way for us to follow, hoping against hope for freedom for all people.
In our lifetime we may never see the promise of freedom for all fulfilled, but every word we speak and every action we take will either add to its foundation or tare it down. Before we speak, before we act and before we vote, we would do well to ask ourselves, “How do my words, my actions, my vote respect and enhance the freedom of others?” “We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, (it is time for us to) learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.”
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All words are generated by grace and the grit of a real human being. Debra Asis
Hebrews 11:8–16 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old — and Sarah herself was barren — because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
