The Fear of Freedom....

As I listen to the unending release of the news of President Obama's and Congress' stimulus package, I feel 2 emotions:

1) Gratitude. Gratitude that something is in progress from our leadership to address the economic crisis that has so many struggling and worrying. This is no longer an abstract situation. Probably all of us know people who have been laid off or their salary cut because businesses are closing. We drive around our streets and see so many not just Mom and Pop businesses with "Going out of Business" signs, but major stores that reflect our capitalistic society. Walk around a mall some day and it will be a leisurely walk because no one is there. Everyone is cutting back and saving all they possibly can because the future seems so unsure. And in times of crisis we naturally look to the desk where the "buck stops" and seek leadership and answers. At times during the last administration, when gas prices seemed to rise without reason, when children continued to come home to grieving parents because their children gave the ultimate sacrifice, when Hurricane Katrina turned our shores into a wasteland in which we liken to third world countries, and when corporate CEOs are awarded immoral bonuses without apparent social or business conscience, we longed to see leadership address these issues and do something. And we felt disappointment. So as Congress passes legislation without much resistance, a part of me is grateful to see something progressing towards change.

However...

The second thought I think and feel is a realization how truly our country in this generation has a fear of freedom. I think this for a couple of reasons:

This generation has witnessed first hand how economic freedom has run a muck. Greed is the dark side of capitalism. A lack of social responsibility leads the motive when greed and money are the goal.

This generation was also raised in a time of great prosperity and is now at a disadvantage because accepting a minimum wage job to work through school and buying a junker with cash instead of making payments seems so backward. Then they reap the consequences. They cannot afford what they want and grew up with and don't have the old school values and character to get it. Ask our grandfathers and anyone who came from another country with nothing (like my father) and ask them how they made a living and a life. They will tell you what it took and I wonder if we in this generation has it within us to do the same. And even though we witnessed this character in our generations before us, we have been seduced by prosperity and now feel deceived because of our own traps of greed and lack of self-control. So we see clearly the dark side of our system.

We now seek leadership to save us from ourselves. We don't know how to handle our freedoms so we long to be led. And we sacrifice our freedoms to be led.

For a long time now, our government will be telling us how to spend money. They will tell us how to run our business. They will actually running our banks and creating our jobs. The government sector will be the place to be for first rate competitive jobs. Essentially, we all will be working for the government and we are all OK with this because we will be taken care of. The worry of having to make so many decisions for ourselves will be gone. We will not be forced to contend with fiscal responsibility and to stretch to grow in character to build our earthly destiny. We no longer will have to pull ourselves up by our boot straps. And we feel relief and are grateful.

Freedom is a heavy burden to carry.

The results of this last election show how many of us are screaming for leadership and are willing to forgo our freedoms to receive it.

This is nothing new in human history. Centuries ago, a people set apart for God's own possession didn't want to be led by a loving and just Father. They screamed for a king so they could be like "all the other nations" and gave up the community that God wanted to have with them. So God granted them earthly kings to lead them as His heart broke. Some kings were good and just. Others in powerful positions abused and wrecked the people and the nation. When we choose to forgo our personal responsibility before God and others, we take the gamble that the persons who lead us will be either just or unjust. And when the longing to be led is overwhelmingly stronger then the desire for freedom, we take the gamble.

Over 200 years ago, this country took a chance on a people being governed by their own. The dream that we would be able to lead ourselves in a country built on shared values in our Declaration was worth giving their lives for. It would have to be advanced citizenship. We would all have to possess a moral center that would keep our greed and social irresponsibility in check and walk the balance beam between personal achievement and community accountability. It was a Declaration of Independence. National independence from a governing country and the pursuit of personal independence. That we are all created and endowed with the right to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I believe we have accomplished it for decades. And we have become a great nation. But I believe, just as all societies have turned, we may have begun to swore off those values and are beginning to retreat from our freedoms. It may be necessary for we have not been all that great with the responsibilities given to us by the people who have gone before us. It may be necessary change to save us from ourselves. But I wonder how long will it take before the cry for freedom rings again and another social revolution happens. When we remember we were created to be free.

It is too soon to evaluate what this period in history has done. Will this period be a time of "emergency treatment" so we can be healed and restored to our country's dream? Or will this be the new USA? Based on the past election, we have taken that gamble. Not just by the results, but by the energy, the passion, and the results of ALL who have taken office.

May we all pause as change comes and reflect and respond.