Freedom

I often hear people defending their freedoms. Freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, usually being the most common. I also hear people ask, what about our freedom, frequently when they don't like something. People complain about laws impinging on their freedoms...mandatory healthcare, seat belts, helmets. As a nation we have been promised freedoms that other countries do not enjoy, but there is no such thing as complete and total freedom. If everyone had the freedom to do whatever they wanted, we would live in total chaos. Not even taking it to extremes, I am not talking murder here. What if you planted a tree and a few years down the road, your neighbor chops it down because it shaded his garden or his pool. You have the right to plant a tree in your yard. But what about your neighbor's rights to grow his own food or dislike of ice cold pool water? I know you are thinking, dude can't come in my yard and chop my tree down! And you are right...but something you have done, has effected the quality of life of another person. So your tree is still standing. Along comes Autumn, and your tree starts shedding all over the place. Leaves everywhere! The neighbor on the other side of you, has no trees. Why? Because he hates to rake leaves. Maybe he likes to hunt, and raking leaves takes away time from this. But your leaves don't recognize boundaries, they just blow

all over the place willy-nilly. And I bet you don't go over there and get them. So he's left raking your, and everyone else's, leaves from his yard...and paying to have the trash company haul them away, because he can't dump them in your yard, even though you made the decision to plant a tree. Every freedom has limits, usually to prevent harm to others. You have the freedom to speak your mind, but not if it defames another. You have the right to bear arms, but we don't walk around packing, like it's the wild, wild west. The document we like to wave around was written some 220 plus years ago. Our forefathers could not even imagine such things as motorized transport, open heart surgery or guns that shot multiple rounds. They set down for us a general guideline of freedoms that had been denied them. There are still places in the world where saying you don't like the government is grounds for execution and freedom to worship is denied completely. Though that is a pet peeve of mine, for another time. There are countries where owning a gun is illegal. Anyway, my point is, we do need to defend our rights and there are those that would govern them away from us, one little tiny chip at a time but you can not scream, "What about my rights?" every time shade falls across your garden. It's sort of like crying wolf, after a while it falls on deaf ears. But then, I guess you have the freedom of speech to complain all you want.