Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Freedom to Choose

Since this is the week of the 4th of July I thought I would write about something which has been on my mind and has been for a few months.

My brother Rocky recently wrote a book about his experiences in Vietnam while serving the United States of America. The book is called, ‘Sgt. Rocky, Last Warrior Standing.’ It is impossible to read his book without feeling appreciative for the soldiers protecting our country. This freedom gives us the right to succeed, to fail, to learn, work hard or do nothing or allows us the right to be anything we want to be.

In 1969 while in Vietnam and after being ambushed by the enemy Rocky wrote home to our parents and said, “I’ve suddenly been impressed with the fact that for those who fought for it, freedom is the taste the protected will never know.” Meaning many of us sit in our homes, do our daily activities and never think about what freedoms we enjoy and who paid the price for that freedom. Soldier’s fight, some die for our country and some come home without limbs. They might be the only ones that know what our freedom is really about. We Americans are being protected and never will fully understand what freedom really is all about.

What does this freedom really have to do with becoming an entrepreneur? It has everything to do with becoming whatever and whoever we want to be. Author and lecturer Wayne Dyer said, “Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery.”

If someone wants to become a doctor, teacher, policeman, factory worker, homemaker, entrepreneur or even the President of the United States, we have that freedom. We get to choose. Thousands of Men and Women have died for America in the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Germany, France, Iraq, Afghanistan and all over the world to give us that right.

Most people will choose to work for others and some will choose to work for themselves. There is no right or wrong. As philosopher Eric Hoffer once said, “There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail.” We have the freedom to do it “our way” whatever way this is. If going to school, working for the government or the corporate world is “your way” there is nothing stopping you but yourself. If becoming an entrepreneur and reaching for the sky is your dream, we have the freedom to choose that dream thanks to those soldiers who fought for us.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.”

We must use our minds to improve ourselves, whatever direction we take in life. We should not imprison ourselves by mediocrity. Be better, challenge yourself and enjoy the freedom to be what you want to be. We are being protected, so enjoy our liberty and freedom from those who have laid down their lives so we can have the chance to choose.

Today, go out and thank a soldier or the veteran for his sacrifice he is giving or has given. Never take our freedom for granted.

2 comments:

  1. Very well said. Thank you for the reminder. Thank you to all the veterans.

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