Jake's Voice of Democracy Audio Essay

How I Demonstrate My Freedom

What about freedom is so appealing that would make a man pursue it above all other qualities of life? It is a blank canvas where order does not exist. It is a new land waiting to be settled and a freshly plowed field waiting to be sown.

Where is comfort or certainty to be found? The answer is that liberty is its own reward. There is no comfort to be found other than that you control your own destiny and there is no certainty other than that there is no certainty. Unless you desire freedom above all your other goals, no comfort is to be found in true freedom.

True liberty is boundless opportunity. True freedom requires constant vigilance above all other distractions in life to maintain. True liberty is very demanding on people because of the immensity of decisions they have to confront on their own. On top of all those mentioned, freedom demands an unyielding pursuit of itself. When the first compromise of freedom takes place, when the first speech is censored, when the first man is imprisoned unjustly, when the first newspaper is shut down, when the first person is enslaved to try and gain temporary security everyone is oppressed and everyone has lost their freedom.

You demonstrate your freedom by taking part in this unyielding, uncompromising, pursuit of the most noble quality of human existence. Yet, many times in life we as imperfect people find ourselves as part of a group that is going to foolishly exchange our freedom for security. All it would take is for one of us to object against the fool hardy measure and a regrettable situation might never take place. Taking a stand against any situation where the outcome is tyranny, however popular the tyranny may be, is a demonstration of both freedom and courage. All it takes is for us as good citizens to say or do nothing and tyranny has prevailed.

Then, there are others threats to freedom that begin outside of our society. These conflicts mainly arise because of ideological differences. The ideology that there is contention over is freedom. Freedom to conduct lives as we see ourselves fit to or the rightful freedom of our nation to exist. The defense against an enemy that uses not the proverbial pen but the sword to strip away liberties requires the most noble defenders thus demonstrators of freedom, soldiers.

Soldiers say to their society, I am giving up my liberty so that you may have yours. I am giving up my ambitions so that you can keep yours. I may have to shed my blood so that yours is not spilt and I may die so that you may live. Taking a stand against an aggressor is courageous and selfless by these often anonymous defenders of freedom.

Then there are times when the society that you live in is not the target of the aggressor. Is it still worth it to fight for the freedom of another nation? Yes, just like we should not only fight for our rights but for the rights of others as well. It is even more noble to defend a weaker society from attack than to defend your own nation. The soldier and the society that shaped his values can take pride in seeing the dawn of liberty break for another nation and people.

But to defend another with no desire of being paid back requires more than courage and being a demonstrator of freedom, it requires selflessness, which is another great virtue often ignored or forgotten in this world today.

I demonstrate my freedom by rising above the body of politics and by holding total liberty as my ideal. I pursue it above all other qualities of life. But I can not just protect my own liberty because when another person loses their liberty, together we will have lost our liberty. The path I follow requires thought and courage. Thought to be able to distinguish the dangers to my freedom and courage to be able to right the wrongs. It is such an unyielding, uncompromising, selfless pursuit of freedom for all that leads to freedom for all. I stand as an example of total freedom to all men who wish to remain free. By the very act of me choosing my own path I demonstrate my freedom.

Jake was 15 when he wrote this essay.