I woke up this morning with freedom on my mind.  As I was lying in my relatively uncomfortable bed, I pondered what it means to be truly free and if any of us truly are.  As Americans, we give a lot of lip service to the notion that we are some of the most free people in the world but yet in some ways we are as restricted as many others.  We just don’t realize it.  We are led to believe  we are free to speak, free to travel or free to be ourselves.  Take a look around.  Can you see how sisters and brethren are being threatened for wanting to love whomever they choose regardless of sex, age, race?  Can you see how those who dare speak against brutality or injustice are black balled and denied opportunity?  There is a price to pay for standing strong and living our truth.

Perhaps our government is more efficient at making us believe the lie that we are free.  Maybe if we close our eyes and think long enough it will be reality.  Governments have a way of making its slaves actually believe they are being cared for.  The slaves are given perks and as long as they feel they are getting a piece of the pie, life is good.   Any self sustaining society knows it has to have a stable working slave force to keep functioning.  Why would it behoove the powers that be to have its citizens refusing to do their duty by producing more tax payers?  The machine needs to be fed.  Who could tolerate adults having freedom by working fewer hours, encouraging learning through travel or being independant or controlled by big brother?  One cannot expect to meet financial goals by taking  time off to schlep the world.

Conformity has become our norm.  Everyone is expected to walk the same trail or else risk the ridicule of the group.  Peer pressure is very real and often times when we stretch our wings looking for our truth, others may not take it too kindly.  There is a price to be paid for true freedom and unfortunately many are not willing to pay the price.