Freedom and Force

There is no more basic question in life than the question of freedom and force. No doubt it was a foremost question before the world was. If there is to be order, the must be law. But with freedom there is always likely to be some violation of law. And so there must be some enforcement, and enforcement implies penalties and punishment (as well as rewards). And penalties and punishment imply some curtailment of freedom and perhaps some use of physical force. And if there are things we are prevented from doing, how much freedom have we? As youngsters sometimes ask: “Do I have to do it? If freedom is an inalienable right, why can’t I do what I want to do?”

These aren’t easy questions to answer in an absolute sense, for despite our universal likenesses, there are innumerable differences, in people and personalities and in situations and circumstances. Perhaps there isn’t any unfailing formula and that there was once a war in heaven would seem to be the evidence of it. But part of the answer to the question of how much freedom we have is this: Uninhibited freedom stops where it infringes on the freedom of others. Another part of the answer is that abuse of freedom may lead to its loss.

Teaching people to want to do what they ought to do is one way to a fuller freedom. Nor even is this unfailingly easy. Children can usually be lead with love, kindness, patience, persuasion, reason. But with children (as well as with adults) some measure of authority and physical force cannot always be avoided. But the mere fact that we have the authority and the power to do a thing doesn’t mean that the best way of doing it is by physical force. Far from it for whenever a situation deteriorates into the use of force and force alone, it is evidence that someone, somehow, somewhere has tragically failed, and that we have lost something that we cannot afford to lose. To quote in closing:

Know this, that every soul is free

To choose his life and what he’ll be,

For this eternal truth is given

That God will force no man to heaven.

He’ll call, persuade, direct aright,

And bless with wisdom, love, and light,

In nameless ways be good and kind,

But never force the human mind.

William C. Gregg