~from An American Soldier, by Toby Keith
I don't often listen to country music on the way to work. As a matter of fact, I don't often listen to music. Period. My dear husband rides in with me each day and he controls the radio in the car just as he controls the remote at home. So I listen to Sports Talk Radio. (zzzzzzzzzzzz...) Which isn't a bad thing, really. It gives me time to think about plot twists and rewrites and so forth.
Bill isn't riding with me, this week. He's on vacation. He's at home, with his remote. And I get to play with the tuner, for once. Oh, the power! I'm absolutely dizzy with the freedom. From Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to Dominic the Donkey (ee-aw, ee-aw) to I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus...geez. Okay, so it's not that much better than Sports Talk. Eeaw-eeaw! When I landed on a song that didn't involve a four-leggie beast of burden or a lisping kid, I stayed there. Thus, the Toby Keith song.
I found that particular line interesting. "When liberty's in jeopardy, I alway do what's right."
Dictionary.com defines liberty as: freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice.
It made me start thinking about the freedoms America is supposed to offer us. Freedom of religion. Freedom of speech.
Are we really free to speak? Are we really free to practice the religion of our choice?
Things are changing in this country. I'll give you an example. I recently went to my company Christmas party. We all knew it was a Christmas party. BUT...we weren't supposed to call it that.
We weren't even allowed to call it a "Holiday Party".
It was officially known as "The Year-End Party."
Despite the candy canes gracing the tables at the party, and everyone's wearing of red and green; even though women wore Christmas-y jewelry and the disc jockey played Christmas songs, we were at The Year-End Party.
None of us were at liberty to say "Christmas". Because that might--oh, horror--remind someone that the majority of us at the party are (gasp!) Christians. And we have this holiday that celebrates the birth of who we believe to be our savior.
Now, this doesn't mean that I want to go around slamming other people for their beliefs. I just want the freedom--the liberty--to celebrate my holiday. Or not. (I can live without Rudolph and Dominic, thank you. Ee-aw.) I don't want to be forced to say, "happy year's end" or even, "Happy Holidays". I want the freedom--the liberty--to speak freely and say (with confidence):
Merry Christmas!
Which brings me back to that Toby Keith song, which tells us that American soldiers are fighting for our liberty. They're in a conflict on foreign sand. Who's fighting for our liberty (our freedoms of speech and worship) on our own soil?
