Uncelebrated Freedom

I mix, mingle, and swim amongst the masses; a sea of color surrounds me as everyone continually moves, mixing the colors of red, white, and blue. Friends laugh and play in the morning sunshine, while old neighbors converse. A small child stares at the red fire engine, while a daddy helps his daughter catch candy from the passing parade. A similar scene transpires all across the nation this day, from the big city, to the farming town, from the mountains to the sea. A celebration of freedom, but let us not forget.

Each time I stand in the wilderness, take a breath of clean wild air, I cannot help but celebrate the freedom of life. We each have our own will, our desire to live, the one thing that no one can take from our grasp. Our will, like the wild breath we take is our own, the thing we fight for every moment of every day. It is a freedom that endures as long as we honor it, as long as we choose to breath.

As we celebrate the political freedoms of today, may we not get so lost in the masses of mixing color that we forget to celebrate the freedom that resides in each breath we take. Let us celebrate our freedom to simply live.