The Shadow of Freedom

On this day when we, as Americans, celebrate our liberty from an allegiance to authority without consent which we once called Great Britain, I am thinking about where the unconscious behavior in my life around paying homage to yet another authority, that of a nation which was founded on the principles of liberty, such as espoused daily by people of authority and received by the masses who listen with sleepy, or should I say, unawakened ears.

The shadow of freedom is seen in the way people can celebrate their 4th of July in ways that can cause harm to others which has been the cause of untold measures enacted by our lawmakers in response to the inappropriate behavior of those few who regard the liberty to cause harm as justification for the atrocities they commit in the name of liberation.

What I'm not talking about here is either the terrorist activities that has spawned the hastily conceived Department of Home Security or the acts of those with money and power to get away with murder and mayhem for the sake of bottom line, as evidenced by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

I am talking about people who would violate a ban on the use of fireworks because of the extreme wildfire danger that exists in the drier areas of the country, such as my current hometown of Santa Fe NM, just because it is their belief that they have the right as freedom loving Americans to do so.

This is but one example of the Shadow of Freedom and not an extreme one at that.  Yet it is something to think about as we barbeque our burgers and hot dogs and set ablaze those bottle rockets and roman candles on the birthday not only of our liberty from oppression, but the day where our responsibility for our liberty first began.

A happy and SAFE 4th!