Thin Dream

I read once a quote by William James, a 19th Century psychologist and philosopher, that went “when you have a choice and don’t make it, that in itself is a choice.” Some choices in our day-to-day lives are not truly important, such as McDonalds or Taco Bell for lunch or what movie to watch this weekend—if many. Other choices bear more gravity like financial stability, moral integrity, and sound judgment. One of the most significant and debate choices a citizen of a free democracy has is the privilege to decide the leaders and protectors of his or her life and his or her family’s lives.

We, as Americans, have come to believe the things given to us and the things we are accustom to expecting are rights, while privileges are things we only take from those who commit crimes. On the contrary for us to be able to give and receive is a privilege most do not have around the globe. In reality everything can be taken within an instant, except hope, faith, love, and truth. Many will forfeit all hope and any faith and harden themselves to love, no matter the truth.

A classmate last semester told me, “We’re not free.” The only thought I could think was how could she truly believe this with all that Americans have? I wrote in the assignment prior this one, “The appreciation of the little things in life is true freedom.” So, after pondering what she had said, about not being free, it hit me she really is not free—by being in that mindset.

Freedom is a dream. It is a dream of men who have been in bondage, who have been beaten and chained down their whole lives for just being born. It is a dream of people persecuted for their beliefs and a dream of others who are oppressed by tyranny and fear of repercussions for standing-up. Freedom does not mean you receive things for free; it is the possibility of being able to receive. Freedom’s cost is the highest price one can pay, and the ones who pay for it with their lives are the ones who gave it honestly and freely. Freedom is a dream that beats inside every last one of us, yet some need the trepidation of it being taken before they can feel it pounding in their chest.

In book 1 of Plato’s masterpiece, Republic, Socrates says, “Now, the greatest punishment, if one isn’t willing to rule, is to be ruled by someone worse than oneself. And I think that it’s fear of this that makes decent people rule when they do. They approach ruling not as something good or something to be enjoyed, but as something necessary, since it can’t be entrusted to anyone better than—or even as good as—themselves.”

Voting is a privilege. It is a freedom, like others, that many brave men and women gave by bloodshed and many just want to abolish. The men and women we vote for to lead and govern our nation are the men and women who decide the cost of the little things we appreciate.


I felt it was time to add another post. I know that there is no big election soon or anything. But voting is very important to me, because it is the root of our political process—my way of changing the world. Garth Brooks had a song in the mid 90’s on his Fresh Horses album, The Change. In the song there are a few lines that I hold onto, as my driving compass. “It’s not the world that I am changing. I do this so this world will know that it will not change me.”