Skip to main content

Fighting for Freedom



Today we celebrate our Great Nation’s independence and freedom. As we’ve often been reminded, freedom isn’t free.  While I passionately agree and feel the cost of our freedom is too often trivialized and ignored, I think there’s another conversation that needs to be discussed. Freedom is a gift and we are immensely blessed to be born in this country and during this time. However, like any gift, that freedom must be both accepted and utilized to be fully appreciated. In this country, freedom is a choice we must make.

Although our nation affords us great freedoms, we too often reject those freedoms and choose to live in bondage of one form or another.

As of the end of 2017, the average credit card balance was nearly $16k, the average mortgage was just under $180k, the average auto loan was approaching $28k and the average student loan was over $47K. How much of your budget goes to paying creditors including mortgages, 20%? 30%? More? If 30% of your budget goes to payments of some kind or another and you are in a 20% tax bracket then you are working HALF the year for someone else. Does that sound like freedom? On top of this, statistics show about 10 million Americans are addicted to gambling with a monetary cost of $6 billion annually, not to mention the social and psychological factors. Money can be great tool to build independence and help others, but too often it enslaves us.

The issue goes far beyond finances though. Studies show over 23 million Americans over the age of 12 struggle with substance abuse including alcohol, illicit drugs and prescription medication. It is estimated nearly 40 million Americans are currently consuming cigarettes on a regular basis, directly leading to upwards of half a million deaths annually. How about food? In 2016 the CDC reported over 93 million US adults were obese – 40% of the adult population – triggering medical costs approaching $150 billion. Even more tragic, it was reported the previous year 12 million children were already obese. All this shows how we have chosen to become prisoners of wretched masters, hell bent on our own destruction.

Maybe you are very frugal with your spending and disciplined about what you put into your body. But do you consume other harmful substances? There are nearly 70 million DAILY search engine requests for pornographic material – about a quarter of all search engine requests – destroying marriages and intimacy.

A 2014 report showed 34 million “gamers” spending an average of 22 hours per week on a gaming console. In 2017, the average social media user spent over two hour a day on social network sites, contributing to the three hours a day the average adult US citizen spends on their phone. But you don’t have time to read or workout or invest in the lives of your loved ones? Remember, we have not been forcibly imprisoned; we have willingly put on these shackles.

Furthermore, we are going to jobs we can’t stand for a paycheck we complain about so we can buy things we can’t afford to impress people we don’t like. Have you ever traded away part of your soul for a steady salary, a mediocre health plan and a 3% 401k match?

We are held captive by the opinions of others, or at least what we think they think about us. We remain ensnared by bitterness, jealousy, greed … I could go on and on but I think I have made my point. I hope at least some of this is hitting home.   

If we really lived as free men and women, I’d be willing to wager we would appreciate our freedoms much more. We have the option of amazing and unparalleled independence in this country, but it must be harnessed. It must be exercised. Freedom certainly isn’t free, but we must also recognize its cost of ownership.  Each and every day, you must continue to fight for your own independence and freedom. Don’t cheapen the sacrifice of those who fought and died so you could live free by settling for a life of bondage.


*Photo compliments of Hannah Tacci

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Toxic Humility

We have all seen false humility: the guy who tries to hide his arrogance with feigned modesty. It’s usually pretty obvious and always obnoxious. But there is also another variation of false humility out there: toxic humility. This is often displayed in self-deprecating talk and a lack of self-confidence, belittling or undermining one’s own talents and abilities. The danger in this kind of behavior is twofold: it is too often accepted as true humility and like a virus, it spreads doubt and disbelief. To clarify, it is not that the bearer of this toxic humility isn’t honest about his view of himself. That is the very issue: he absolutely believes he has little value or utility. He thinks downplaying his own worth is humility but I disagree. CS Lewis said it best when he wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.” His point being, true humility is not an ever-present raincloud of self-doubt that follows you around. It’s a focus on
Post a Comment
Read more

Glutton for Punishment

I’ve learned over the years that being comfortable can be a dangerous thing. I try to find paths to discomfort to push me out of my realm of “safety.” However, I have noticed my ability to develop comfort zones amidst discomfort. I’ve found ways to be comfortable in uncomfortable circumstances. I wonder, do I need to be stretched beyond those areas as well? One of the areas in which I have adapted to the discomfort is the gym. I don’t go to the gym to exercise, to get stronger or even to be healthier. It’s grown beyond that. Now, I go to the gym to clear my head by testing my will and resolve. I do it to see how hard I can push my limits and I strive to outwork everyone else there. I may not be the strongest, the fastest or the fittest. I may not lift the most weight or even do the most reps – I can’t control any of those variables – but I can control my effort. So one of my goals for each workout is to unleash more effort than anyone else at the gym. But along with this
Post a Comment
Read more

Commitment

  You know what the problem is with a lot of goals and grand plans? They are mostly fueled by emotion rather than commitment. It is why most New Year’s Resolutions are long forgotten by now and many aspirations quietly fizzle out over time. True commitment is sticking with the effort even – if and especially when – the emotion has diminished or disappeared. Emotion can be a great initiator of action, like kindling on a fire, but it lacks staying power. Commitment is the logs that keep the fire burning long after the kindling is consumed. The butterflies after falling in love, the best intentions of waking up at 4:30am every day to work out after you join a new gym, the excitement of your first day on campus, even the sleep-deprivation induced euphoria of a new baby: all kindling. But it is commitment that keeps you working hard on the marriage twenty-three years after “I do.” It is what causes you to keep going when you do not want to make one more sales call, do one more presentat
Post a Comment
Read more