Do We Have Our Freedom?

Perhaps all of us at times have questions concerning freedom—especially you people who feel too closely tied, too closely tethered, and who sometimes seem to feel that freedom should mean the right to do absolutely anything they choose to do. Perhaps we have all heard youngsters say in substance: If it’s a free country, why do I have to do anything I don’t want to do? Why do I have to practice? Why do I have to go to school? Why do I have to come in early—or account to anyone at all? If it’s a free country, why can’t I go where I want and do what I want and take what I want?

Sooner or later, such misconceptions concerning freedom would, if persistently pursued, lead to loss of freedom. Absolute and unrestrained freedom is of course, anarchy. And anarchy is not freedom, but complete chaos. We cannot have freedom without responsibility. We cannot have freedom without respecting the rights of others. We cannot have freedom without living within the law.

And as to young people who earnestly ask such searching questions concerning freedom, it may be helpful to remember these few simple essentials: Yes, we have our freedom to refuse to work, freedom to refuse to take advantage of our opportunities (even freedom to starve if we want to); freedom to be dishonest, freedom to be unpleasant, unkind, uncooperative; freedom to choose right or wrong, honesty or dishonesty, chastity or unchastity, industry or indolence, honor or dishonor, truth or falsehood, good or evil, light or darkness, the wrong road or the right one. In all this we have our choice, but in all of this also there is one thing we must remember: there is no such thing as freedom from consequences.

Freedom is a God-given inalienable right, and is essential to the soul’s salvation in the highest sense. And every man must be protected in his right to choose as to certain essentials. But, when we flaunt any law—of society, of the land, of nature, or of God—we pay a price. We reap the results of the seeds we sow. Freedom can be used or abused, but there is this certainty concerning it: freedom cannot keep us from consequences.