Liberty

I wrote the following elsewhere but speaking of Liberty made me remember it so I include it here.

I was watching an old black and white movie last night with Jimmy Stewart called 'Mr Smith Goes To Washington'. It's a movie about an idealistic young Senator who is brought to Washington with thoughts that he'll be an easy vote for a bill being introduced before Congress. What the older Senator and his state corrupt political machine don't take into consideration is that not only is this young man idealistic, he firmly believes, supports, and is willing to fight for what his country is founded upon. He made one comment that stuck in my head: "Liberty should not be buried in books."

Thomas Jefferson Defined it in the "Declaration of The Rights of Man and The Citizen" as: "Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else; hence the exercise of the natural rights of each man has no limits except those which assure to the other members of the society the enjoyment of the same rights. These limits can only be determined by law."

Much has been done for the sake of liberty in many countries around the world. (National embodiments of Liberty include: Britannia (United Kingdom); the Statue of Liberty (also known as Lady Liberty, Liberty Enlightening the World, or Goddess of Liberty) (United States); Marianne (France). And I'm sure there are others.) It is not just a political concept, it is an aspect of the human spirit.

Each man and woman, regardless of race, religion, nationality, age, sexual orientation, etc. has an inherent human right to be an individual and to exercise his/her rights. Laws are necessary within any society and should be established to maintain order and, though some exist for the good of the many as opposed to the one, they should be fair and equitable for the individual where warranted. Laws governing moral behavior are viewed as equitable by what each of us considers moral. Laws governing protection of life and property are equitable regardless of personal view. Unfortunately, laws are created by those in power whether they are honorable, corrupt, or have an agenda their own and they don't always fall within what is humanely just. However, the very ideals which some countries were founded upon have supported and enabled the success of Women's Suffrage, Civil Rights Movements, the Gay Rights, as well as other issues.

To study the political concept of liberty through history is often dull to the normal student. Only when it is brought from the books and awakened in the spirit of man does it become what it's truly meant to be. Perhaps liberty is difficult for anyone to fully comprehend or appreciate unless they've experienced freedom following a life of oppression. Take any individual who's lived in fear of death or lack of ability to be himself and free him from that fear. That resultant sensation of freedom; ability to relax his vigilant stance; sense of being fully alive, is overwhelming and fully appreciable. For those who've never known oppression, liberty is taken for granted and the measures taken to ensure that liberty are overlooked or long forgotten.

Liberty is not a national stance; it is an individual human right not determined by borders, land mass, population percentage, or national leaders and politics though it is often taken from us and in turn doled out to us by those very foundations which restrict that right.