Write Back Weekend "Free To Be You & Me"
In honor of the 4th of July last Tuesday I asked you to tell me what freedom meant to you.
Freedom has many different meanings to many different people. For some freedom is wearing a skirt and no underwear. For others it's finally making that last mortgage payment. For Loverboy it's all about Working For The Weekend. For me, it's the title to not one, but two great songs sung by George Michael. Now that's free-king amazing!
As a teacher, I feel a sense of freedom in the summer that I don't feel the rest of the year. This is because I can do whatever I want when I want to, within reason. But I gotta tell you, the idea that there are people out there who are totally "free" 24/7 with no responsiblities, no obligations, no jobs, amazes me. Some of these people are homeless, others of them just might be retired and then of course, there's the rest of you.
Having the opportunity to do what I want when I want for 60 days or so is great, but if you told me I could do that everyday of my life, I might actually get a little bored. Unless of course you threw in a cool million to keep me company while I was busy being "free". Then I might sing a different tune.
On a more serious note, speaking as an American, freedom represents all the things we have that we take for granted. While no US citizen has total freedom, we have a lot more say than the citizens of many other countries do. In fact, we are so protective of this freedom, that we will go and fight on behalf of people who don't have such rights in the hopes they can one day know what it feels like.
But I believe freedom is something that becomes harder to miss once you've had a taste of it. This is why Americans get greedy, because we never really had to question our freedoms in the way many other people in the world do. Just look at the way we feel free to lambast our world leaders in comedy sketches and bumper stickers. It's funny, but it's an alien concept to someone in say, Thailand, who probably wouldn't dream of wearing a shirt that certifies their position of disapproval for their leader.
Sometimes I think of America as that snotty-nosed kid you sorta used to play with when you were little. Your mom, not unlike Canada, was mild mannered, but still enforced some rules, curfews and manners. Your little friend "America" was an alright enough kid, but he did whatever he wanted to, whenever he wanted to. He stayed up all night. He drank soda all day. He never did his homework. And in the end both Canada and America didn't turn out all that differently. But sometimes you can still see the spoiled side of America rear its ugly head when someone tells him to brush his teeth and go to bed.
What I'm trying to say here is that as Americans we really, really hate when people tell US what to do. We like being the boss and calling the shots. Why? Because the dots all connect to the bigger picture, freedom.
And definitely one, if not both, of those George Michael songs.
Freedom has many different meanings to many different people. For some freedom is wearing a skirt and no underwear. For others it's finally making that last mortgage payment. For Loverboy it's all about Working For The Weekend. For me, it's the title to not one, but two great songs sung by George Michael. Now that's free-king amazing!
As a teacher, I feel a sense of freedom in the summer that I don't feel the rest of the year. This is because I can do whatever I want when I want to, within reason. But I gotta tell you, the idea that there are people out there who are totally "free" 24/7 with no responsiblities, no obligations, no jobs, amazes me. Some of these people are homeless, others of them just might be retired and then of course, there's the rest of you.
Having the opportunity to do what I want when I want for 60 days or so is great, but if you told me I could do that everyday of my life, I might actually get a little bored. Unless of course you threw in a cool million to keep me company while I was busy being "free". Then I might sing a different tune.
On a more serious note, speaking as an American, freedom represents all the things we have that we take for granted. While no US citizen has total freedom, we have a lot more say than the citizens of many other countries do. In fact, we are so protective of this freedom, that we will go and fight on behalf of people who don't have such rights in the hopes they can one day know what it feels like.
But I believe freedom is something that becomes harder to miss once you've had a taste of it. This is why Americans get greedy, because we never really had to question our freedoms in the way many other people in the world do. Just look at the way we feel free to lambast our world leaders in comedy sketches and bumper stickers. It's funny, but it's an alien concept to someone in say, Thailand, who probably wouldn't dream of wearing a shirt that certifies their position of disapproval for their leader.
Sometimes I think of America as that snotty-nosed kid you sorta used to play with when you were little. Your mom, not unlike Canada, was mild mannered, but still enforced some rules, curfews and manners. Your little friend "America" was an alright enough kid, but he did whatever he wanted to, whenever he wanted to. He stayed up all night. He drank soda all day. He never did his homework. And in the end both Canada and America didn't turn out all that differently. But sometimes you can still see the spoiled side of America rear its ugly head when someone tells him to brush his teeth and go to bed.
What I'm trying to say here is that as Americans we really, really hate when people tell US what to do. We like being the boss and calling the shots. Why? Because the dots all connect to the bigger picture, freedom.
And definitely one, if not both, of those George Michael songs.
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