Tuesday, January 27, 2009


FREEDOM
<http://aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com/2009/01/freedom-is-not-free.html>
IS NOT FREE



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00/Iceberg.jpgWake up.
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There was a large sign in front of a VFW Post in my old neighborhood. It
said (in tattered plastic clip-on letters, on a washed-out looking wooden
sign), "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE."



When I used to pass the sign on my way to get my morning coffee, I viewed it
dismissively as amateurish wordplay. I smiled at the apparent poverty of the
presentation. I was an inexperienced, conceited, brainwashed imbecile, in
the sweet ether of ambient propaganda. I was one of many of the untouched
and ignorant, thinking myself protected by my status, my society, my
un-involvement and my willingness to work without question. In retrospect,
it makes me shudder, just as it humbles me.



Now I realize that the sign was an admonition. An omen. An oracle. It was
raw, wisdom -- a warning about the large, dark side of Human Nature, and of
the institutions and civilizations which it creates to protect itself from
itself. It was to be taken very seriously.



I had occasion to visit the area again recently. I parked my car on the
street and looked at that sign for the better part of five minutes. The
temperature must have been far below freezing, and I was shivering.



This time I saw it -- I saw ancient Rome; I saw Auschwitz and Dachau; I saw
the Kennedy and King assassinations; I saw the frightened children in
Columbine; I saw Nelson Mandela sitting in his cell; I saw Socrates drinking
hemlock and children in Jonestown drinking Kool-Aid as their parents held
them; I saw the collapse of the Twin Towers; I relived the stories of
"Weapons of Mass Destruction"..."NSA wiretapping"..."abuses of
power"..."corruption"; I thought about the fall of many of the world's most
venerable and trusted persons and institutions, due to a mixture of
unbridled greed, the ability to purchase influence and to redefine justice;
I saw young men and women locked away for twenty years for a first offense,
while the politically astute, but genocidally corrupt and socio-pathological
obtained immunity through their use of power and privilege -- investigations
stillborn, files "misplaced", charges suddenly dropped, sentences
commuted... I saw myself as alone and unarmed.



A recent movie trailer stated, "Freedom begins with an act of defiance."



The first act of defiance is to question everything that feels wrong or
suspicious. And then, to be prepared to either fight or run. To be ever
vigilant. To be a student of history. To act before you, or someone whom you
love, is reduced to a chalk outline, or to particulate or decomposing matter
in a park or at the bottom of the ocean after an unseen act of depravity,
insensitivity or plain evil.



We surrender our freedoms easily because we are afraid. We are conditioned
to sacrifice ourselves. To punch the time clock. To dig our own graves. We
assign the job of protecting ourselves to others, who use that power to
control and imprison us. We march into cattle cars, breadlines, super-stores
and voting booths. We invite our worst enemies in to freely question
evidence. We incriminate ourselves as if we were obligated to pay a price
for nonconformity or for merely doing what is necessary to survive. We
stifle our instinctual doubts about the integrity of the systems that are
supposed to protect us.



There is freedom in this life, just as there is beauty. Yet finding either
requires a relentless searching, questioning and personal effort. If we just
accept what we are told, if we just "follow our orders," we have subverted
our freedom in its entirety. We have put ourselves in the center of the
arena, naked and defenseless, subject to the whims of the local dictator or
emperor.

No mortal person or institution is fit to be my judge. Or yours.



We do not deserve freedom if we are not prepared for the un-assignable
personal responsibilities that come with its privileges.



The sign says, "FREEDOM IS NOT FREE."



Wake from your slumber. Time to build a fire.



Faithfully,



Douglas Castle

douglas.castle@...

http://aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com/



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