Freedom and Conformity (New)

Again comes the question: how much freedom do we have if we must live according to law?

This is a question young people often ask, even from the earliest years of youth. With the idea of freedom before them, they sometimes want to know why they can’t do anything they want to do – or everything they want to do. If men were meant to be free, what reason is there for restraint?

Part of the answer is this: Freedom isn’t for us only. It is for others also. And freedom without restraint is absolute anarchy. And with anarchy no one is safe. There simply isn’t any real and enduring freedom outside the limits of law.

But there are some who suppose that if a person chooses to obey the law, of chooses to keep the commandments of chooses to conform to the standards and conventions of society, he has sacrificed his freedom. But no man has sacrificed his freedom if he chooses to live within the law. He has simply used his freedom for what freedom was meant to be used for – and those who use their freedom to violate law and to ignore the decencies of society impair their own freedom and that of others also.

We cannot break any law—of health, of morals, of ethics, or honesty—without paying a price. For every abuse of freedom we pay a price. And part of the price for misusing freedom is losing freedom , as many a man could testify who has found himself shackled in one way or another, with handcuffs of habits of simply unable to control himself.

Every broken law brings its penalty. And one of the earliest lessons for young people to learn is that freedom isn’t free – and it isn’t a license to break the law. Freedom endures with discipline, with honesty, with reason and respect. Freedom endures only within the limits of law.