October 26, 2009

This is a message sent to a friend who had told me he was continuing to pursue political answers because he had decided that the ideals of liberty and justice would never be a reality... that people wanted to be slaves and have a ruler so it was pretty pointless to try convincing them they really needed freedom.

My answer:

Reality? What is that? We each make our own reality, each moment, right where we are. We must recognize and build liberty and justice in our own life, our own circle of friends, and our own community the best we can always. ONLY that will ever build a free society.

None of us, and no group or number of us, will ever save the world... will ever convince everyone - or even most - to seek and live that liberty. Most men want a ruler indeed, because the alternative is personal responsibility and hard work. All we demand from them is to be left alone.

But if we let their choice deny the possibility of freedom in our own lives, we will die in slavery too.

Reach for the "impossible," always! Follow the "dreamers" who gave their lives, fortune and sacred honor to the ideals of liberty and justice in the face of the most crushing opposition they could imagine. Do you think that Jefferson or Samuel Adams thought there was much chance they could lead a rebellion against the king and actually WIN? Wouldn't it have been wise for them to just wait a while until they had convinced more of the colonists to understand and back their play?

How about those who actually went to be burned at the stake or beheaded, simply because they believed that the earth was a globe, that the earth circled the sun, that Jesus Christ was God and Man.... all of those completely "impossible" things mankind has lived and died for. Were they true because everyone believed it, or true because they were true?

If not now, when? If not you, then who?

And none of your dreams will become reality as long as you are firmly convinced that they never can be.