Doing Otherwise

In the spirit of fourth of July, I want to write a short piece on freedom. It's an idea that I've been musing over for a while now, particularly in the days surrounding this holiday. I've never really gotten into fourth of July for a few reasons, not to be discussed here. This year I worked all day and came home to eat an Italian dinner (if you call Hamburger Helper Italian). But with regard to freedom, I hope to keep this short.

Freedom is the capacity or ability to do otherwise. With regard to ethics, it is the choice to save one's self instead of another. In politics it is the option of choosing one candidate over another. At the simplest physical level, it is the almost passive decision to climb a flight of stairs two at a time, instead of one. In choosing sin, there is always the opportunity to opt for virtue, inasmuch as there is always chance to sin when pursuing a virtuous life. Even apart from such areas, there is freedom in every waking moment -- which cereal one eats in the morning, how fast one drives on the freeway, how one responds to ridicule or encouragement.

I said that freedom is the capacity to do otherwise. In any given scenario, there is always another option. No matter how monotonous the day feels, you are never obligated to continue on as you were, to regularly make the same decisions day after day. Freedom violently contrasts with obligation. Sometimes I think that we need a radical display of freedom to break the cycle of regularity, to break free from what is expected of us. Even in the bleakest of times, when it seems as though there is no safe way out except the easy way--there is always the opportunity to bear down, toughen up, and find a way to persevere. The soldier paralyzed by fear, wishing for nothing more than to be miles away from harm's way, must decide to fight on or to fall back. Choosing neither leads to certain death. Even in choosing neither, it is still a free choice to not choose. This is freedom--simple and extravagant.

So often, especially around holidays such as these, I hear about how blessed we are to live in a land with freedom and opportunity. But here is the unpopular truth: You can't legislate freedom. Freedom is inborn into every fiber of my being. In virtue of being a person and having consciousness, I have this capacity. Yes, I gain many benefits from living in this country that I am thankful for--that I have the ability to write this without fear of persecution and contempt (at least not by the state). But even if I lived under severe oppression and darkest tyranny, I still would have the capacity to do otherwise. The freedom that whispers in the ear of brute adversity is infinitely more beautiful than the freedom that is met with open applause.

Writing this is an exercise of freedom. I could be off watching a movie, out to see fireworks, or sleeping quietly. But I chose to do otherwise. The choices that I have made are mine and mine alone. In light of this fact, whatever consequences that come of this freedom are also mine and I am responsible for them. Freedom endows responsibility. I am responsible, not for what I could have done, but for what I did. I chose this school. I chose this job. I chose to live in this place. And with those things comes so much more. I love this freedom, because if I wake up tomorrow and forcibly pick it all up, I could choose otherwise and pursue a different direction.

I choose otherwise.

Down below in the resistance
Sheer defiance builds in cadence
Pure and passionate that's right
There's nothing here to lose

Real change doesn't come a mandate
Real love you cannot legislate.