freedom?

Americans forget that there are other countries besides the free world. We forget that there are people who have actually never heard of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Columbus Day, Martin Luther King Day, or-my favorite forgotten holiday-July 4. We forget that we may be, in fact, the most enthusiastic country when considering what it means to celebrate. Sure, every country follows their own regulations and protocol for "throwing the biggest bash of the year," but I doubt that any other country will publicize it as much as America. I laugh at American people because we are so driven by publicity, but we are often the first to complain that we are starved for attention...at least the bills from the shrink's office will prove that. We are on a perpetual hunt for "the next big thing," a hunt that seems so foreign to so many other nations. We are obsessed with ourselves.
I have been made so aware of my own self-obsession recently, especially since I have witnessed the first Halloween of the kids in America. They loved every minute of trick-or-treating, but could not understand why they would get free candy? Just because? To understand that something can be free is to understand the principles upon which America stands. We are notably the land of the free. I loved watching the kids' excitement exponentially increasing as we went from house to house in search of "free" candy, knowing that we would walk home with a loot never before seen in their family.

So, now, I have to question: Does this idea of freedom lend to our laziness as a country? We are taught from such a young age--in church, in school, on holidays, through commercials--that we can have free things. Christianity's appeal to non-church goers is that Christ's love is free. Halloween's most cherished reward is free candy. The stores are lined with customers the day after Christmas, hoping to return their gifts, exchanging for something else--free. You can get lucky at sporting events and catch a t-shirt, baseball, or other paraphenalia--free. Store windows urgently cry out to passers-by: "Buy one, get one free!" We are surrounded by freedom.

Yet, as with everything, there is always a give-and-take. I am afraid that in the midst of our freedom, our moral and ethical focus suffers. We succumb to laziness, which succumbs to apathy, which only heightens selfishness, which contributes to the demise of America's initial moral code. A government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" was established by a group of persuant reformers bursting with passion. No, they were not lazy. They were dreamers with ideas larger than their lives. No, they probably did not attend a gala because there would be free food. They were just hoping for the next meal. And, no, they didn't break someone's arm in effort to catch the last free t-shirt at the big game. They didn't even have organized sports. Then again, their freedom depended upon their pursuit of justice.

We are such a nation of takers, simply because we don't want to give. We are already surrounded by freedom given to us in a variety of ways and do not have to wholeheartedly focus on creating it. We forget all too often that we are not the only people on planet earth simply because we are the kings and queens of "haves," rather than unfortunate members of the "have-nots." Oh, that we would use our hands and feet instead of our credit cards! Oh, that we would create a budget that builds into our spending a certain amount spent on strangers every month. Oh, that we would just look up rather than down when we walk along the street! Oh, that we would understand what it means to really be free!