Let Freedom Ring...or Maybe Not

This is not a ramble out trucking but instead of my own personal views about our freedoms on this day that we celebrate them.

It's Independence Day and I hope everyone has a great one! Let's remember what that means. It means FREEDOM...freedom of religious expression, freedom of the nation to be the person they are, freedom from persecution. And yet...we still do not abide to that freedom even today. We find more and more regulations stifling many of our basic freedoms (and this was happening long before Obama folks). We persecute those who go against the grain of what we define as "acceptable social norms"...and my friends...social norms change from decade to decade...this has been happening for centuries (think on it...once upon a time it was against the norm for women to wear pants or vote).  And we still continue to evolve as a nation...and as a species. But there are those who still fight against the evolution of our present and future. Who wish to crush the hopes, dreams and personal freedoms we all are supposed to have.

In America...the land of the free...we celebrate our freedoms...except for when it suits us. Freedom to love or marry who we wish (not talking about people marrying pets as one Republican government official as said will occur when we open the door to gays marrying...yea right...that's just downright silly!). Freedom to express and debate opposing views with how one views the world around us and the politics that govern us without others screaming you are stupid, ignorant, or sheeple. Freedom to be equal to all others within this great land regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender.

"The Bible says..."
"The Constitution says..."
Again and again...we pick and choose to point out the parts of both that support our own personal views on our society while ignoring the parts that don't. It has always been one of my own personal goals to keep an open mind, to not bash others around me for having opposing views and I hope will not bash me for expressing mine. I might dislike one set of people or a particular political party. And I may often express those views...and that's my right to do so. But do I have the right to work everyday at pushing those people into an oblivion where I do not have to see or hear them? No. They too have the freedom to exist, to believe as they wish and to express those beliefs without being persecuted by the rest of society.

Freedom is the basis of the United States. Some say "That is not what our founding fathers had in mind" and that may be true. But then in their time period they did not face many of these situations and obstacles we now face today. So how can we equate their ideals with the ideals of today? They had not meant for the blacks to have freedom...and yet today they do. They had not meant for women to have the freedoms we so enjoy today. We have evolved those freedoms to accept ALL people...or so we try to think...because in reality we have not. The people of our nation still try to crush segments that do not fall into what they believe is acceptable...normal...is opposite of what we believe is what the nature of our friends and neighbors should be.

So my finale is this...
Stop to think about what freedom is supposed to mean. Does it mean you support freedom...as long as it goes with your own personal beliefs? Or do you support a freedom that all of us should be able to share and celebrate?