What Is Freedom To You? Is Your Freedom Secure?

Last updated on September 5, 2022

We all have specific thoughts on Freedom and exactly what it means to us but have you considered just how easily it could be jerked away from us?

Have you put any thought into what freedom means to others? I imagine the true definition of freedom is as random and diverse as any word we value as humans. I wonder what freedom means to you.

I love books and three recent books I’ve enjoyed really bring the meaning of freedom home for me. You see, born as a white American, it’s a simple task to standardize or even democratize the interpretation; assigning it broadly to everyone based on my own experience and advantages.

These books are fictional stories but I challenge you to read them with an open mind and say it’s not possible; at least the second two. Under The Dome is a little over the top at the surface but what lies beneath is all too human.

[Tweet “Under The Dome is a little over the top at the surface but what lies beneath is all too human. #UnderTheDome”]

Under the Dome

The first book is one many people have been enjoying as a CBS science-fiction television series – Under the Dome (See my post, Cutting The Cable Resource and Show Guide). Under the Dome: A Novel

 by Stephen King ^{(Paid link)} is a fictional story where a small town is completely isolated from the rest of the world by an impenetrable clear dome where those inside attempts to survive one another while their freedom, as they know it, has been taken from them.

I won’t give the story away but the real drama is not from the dome removing their freedom; it’s from those trapped inside ripping the freedom from those dealing with the same challenge – their family, friends, and neighbors. Will humanity find a triumphant solution or is all lost to the most powerful individuals? Sound familiar?

[Tweet “Will humanity find a triumphant solution or is all lost to the most powerful individuals?”]

One Second After

Next up was One Second After

by William R. Forstchen ^{(Paid link)}. Do you know what an EMP is? As a US Army veteran, I’ve had the horrifying misfortune of sitting in many briefings that outlined the possible devastating potential an EMP attack would have on the United States. We’re talking about the devastation that’s so severe that it’s all but unspeakable (in public) by those we count on for protection and information.

An Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is not just the imaginative creation of the writer of the blockbuster movie The Matrix, whoever really wrote The Matrix. EMP is a REAL occurrence that is the byproduct of a nuclear explosion.

The Electromagnetic Pulse destroys every electronic instrument within its reach. Wonder why we don’t want the North Koreans, Iran, or terrorists to have access to nuclear weapons?

Imagine everything we’ve grown reliant on dropping to its knees.  Not just your computer and smartphone – everything! No electricity; the entire grid doing down across the nation. No internet. No communication of any kind. No cars; yes, I said no cars. No deliveries. No jobs – no stores, no money – no law – no government.

Seriously, One Second After was an amazing read and it will really make you think about what we’ve come to think of as freedom.

Liberators

The third book I just finished was Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse

by James Wesley Rawles ^{(Paid link)}. Imagine a complete breakdown of American economic and political stability. I mean a breakdown that makes our latest recession or even the great depression, look like a walk in the park. A breakdown that opens the doors for other countries to drop a hammer on the United States and Canada to a degree that would make Hitler proud.

Liberators walk you through the breakdown in the shoes of several everyday citizens faced with the fact that their freedom wasn’t quite as promised to them as they believed.

Religion and Freedom

Okay, now let me move away from doom and gloom and look at freedom from another angle – religion. Not necessarily the freedom of religion, which not everyone has, but what the religious think of as freedom. The idea that this is not their home and nothing here can affect their true home in Heaven.

I’m not especially religious and I’m not going to get into that but you have to admire those that believe true freedom is out of the hands of mankind. After reading the books above, it’s a really nice thought.

I’ve always had a problem with others telling those around them what life is about because it’s really a matter of perspective, mindset, and belief. The same for religion, it’s a personal belief that, in my opinion, no one can really define. Don’t even get me started. lol

So, again, what is freedom?

What’s more interesting, explaining your thoughts on the meaning of freedom or asking what it means to others? Only fear would cause rejection of the later. ~ Brian D. Hawkins

So now I have to consider freedom in the same manner. We Americans don’t hold a monopoly on the concept and, as a human race, we will never agree on its meaning.

[Tweet “Americans don’t hold a monopoly on the concept of #freedom Will we ever agree on its meaning?”]

And that’s okay; it’s far more interesting to learn what it means to others, so long as we don’t’ take what freedom means to them because they have another perspective.

Brian ~ That’s Right, I Said It

Disclosure: In the true entrepreneurial spirit, I used an affiliate link for the three four books I recommend in this post. I wouldn’t recommend them if I hadn’t enjoyed them as much as I did. If you use any of the Amazon links I provided, I will receive a small commission for your purchase. That is always appreciated my friends and thank you for your support.