Freedom

Freedom is more than cities and buildings. Freedom is a state of mind and a way of life. Freedom is not free for it is bought with a price. A price that far exceeds that of putting up concrete and steel. The right to live free and to think free and to disagree comes only when men and women are willing to give their lives to protect that right. There have been many over the years that have tried to put out freedoms light. Each one has failed. For those that try do not understand what freedom is really all about. You see, freedom is walking along a neighborhood street on a Sunday morning and hearing church bells calling you to worship as you choose. It is worshipping God in the way you believe not according to the whims of a ruling government. Freedom is the right to voice your opinion without fear of imprisonment. It is the opportunity to improve your mind by attending whichever school you choose. Freedom allows a man to become what ever he sets his mind to become. The only limits are those he places on himself. In a free land a boy can become president or the owner of a large corporation or a cowboy riding a bull. A woman too can run a company or raise a family or fulfill the desires of her heart. Each is free to choose that path that best matches their ideals. Freedom is setting on the porch in the evening and listening to the nightingale song echo through the trees. Or watching the waves sweep over a sandy beach. Seeing the color change on the hills as nature prepares the seasons to change, is freedom too. Taking a child fishing for the first time and seeing the sparkle in his eyes as he catches his first fish, is what freedom is all about. Freedom is feeling the wind in your hair as you stand on a bluff and look out across a sun painted desert. Freedom is looking on snow-capped mountains and seeing an eagle sore.
Freedom is not bound up in concrete and steel. Freedom is not something that can be killed by knocking down buildings or crashing airplanes. Freedom is not found in gold or silver. Freedom is in the heart of peaceful people who, when pushed, will fight you if you try to take their freedom away. Many men and women over the years have paid the ultimate price to live in a free land. Those same people still hold freedom’s light high for all to see. For their spirit burns in the eyes of every man, woman, boy and girl that stands on freedoms shore. You can knock down our buildings but you can’t put out the light in our eyes or the fire in our hearts. To stop freedom you must understand freedom, and if you understand freedom you won’t want to stop it.
America did not get to be a free and independent nation by accident. It is a nation that was build with faith in God, prayer and hard work. Our money reflects what we believe, “In God we trust”. While we might not all agree we each will defend the right to disagree. We are a family and each time the family has a problem they come together and solve the problem. It happened in 1941, in 1951 and in 1990. It happened in 2001. The American family is together like never before. Freedom will ring across the waves and those who would kill freedom will pay a great price. Freedom has a price and it is not only paid by those who defend it but also by those who would destroy it. The eagle is quiet most of the time but when the eagle screams and spreads its wings freedom will be defended.