The Problems With Freedom

As I sit here, it is about 10 minutes after 11 PM on November 25th, 2013. I am sitting in the same county & state I was born in. Before the end of the calendar year, I am facing 2 more birthdays. (Only one of them is mine; The other belongs to either my 3rd nephew or my 1st niece.)

As I approach my birthday (&, coincidentally, the end of the actual calendar) every year, I tend to do some quick Math in my head. I have spent easily 95-plus % of my life in the USA, & I’d estimate an easy 90-plus % in the state of Ohio. I mention all this because it was in the house I grew up in (also in this county, where many of the current residents are “blood relatives”) a few years back that I first spoke of the idea of eventually becoming President. I’ve got about a half-decade before I will be old enough to legally take that position, but since I meet all the other rules &/or requirements, I have not entirely ruled it out.

It was roughly 2 weeks ago I started seriously considering such things more than I have in a long time. I was watching the Steelers play football on TV. (I still remember my best friend telling me that he was a fan of Pittsburgh sports teams over 2 decades ago, & I said the same. Now, he lives in Massachusetts, & while I didn’t become a Steelers fan until we were both in high school, I have no idea what teams he currently supports.)

I started thinking about the remaining majority of my week, most of which was open. I considered spending some of the time at the movies, shopping, or just “killing time” at the local Mall. I figured that if “my” Steelers won that day, I’d possibly wear one of my team shirts wherever I went the next day. I also thought that anyone who supported the team we were then facing could also wear that team’s apparel to the same place the same day no matter the outcome of the game, & neither of us could legally say or do anything to the other claiming the action/speech was spurred by the clothing.

The majority of the time I have seen such things discussed (admittedly, this is most-often fictional series/films), the person(s) claim it is part of their Constitutionally-given “freedom of speech”. This often makes me laugh; While I’m known to say, “You’ll never find a bigger defender of people’s right to their opinion than me”, I take it into account that when exercising their “freedom of speech” in this way, there is very-rarely any speaking actually done.

Around the time of this particular game, it hit me that I have a problem with people exercising this right & others like it. I remain a staunch defender of people’s right to their individual opinions (a quote I read from Voltaire in Freshman Year of high school comes to mind offhand); On that day, I recall myself saying that “People don’t exercise that right enough.” (Here, I wish I could repeat the examples I listed that week. While my stances don’t often change, my memory comes-&-goes like soda cans.)

I believe I’ve covered that side of things enough… For now, at least. Let us look at the other side: When people exercise rights they should (&, I believe, do) not have.

I am, as I said before, a legal adult citizen of the contiguous United States. I graduated high school over a decade ago, & have never been even a suspect in any illegal activity. (As I’ve come to say it, “I regularly watch ‘Person Of Interest’, but have no history of being nor want to become one.”)

After yesterday’s Steelers game, I realized I had the entire week open, & so was considering things I might do this week. (Basically the same list I made earlier.) Before I fell asleep, however, I crossed all possibilities off of my list, thinking I would have to first call & ask a question of my “legal guardian”, requiring me to be home the rest of the day to wait for a call back.

I spent a lot of this afternoon, therefore, “napping”. This is not because I was tired, but because I had forgotten Last Night’s List, & my “guardian” had answered my question when I originally called him this morning.

Part of me is surprised he was available, & actually willing to speak with me personally. Further, part of me is even more surprised (albeit pleasantly so) by some of the answers he gave me. Regardless, the vast majority of me is wondering why I cannot seem to end our connection to each other by the end of this calendar year, & above that, why this connection was ever begun.