The Freedom 'of', and the Freedom 'to': Personal Responsibility.
Gaining freedom from any oppressive force is similar to the process that Nau describes in They're Cows, We're Pigs, when he says, "his precarious health is restored and wounds are healed, the animals with their kindness having rubbed away the effects of his masters beatings and soothed the fevers that he also owed to the vicious buccaneer's brutal treatment" (5). Nau had experienced the healing process that was brought about by the natural forces that surrounded him and resulted in his freedom. In return for his freedom, Nau had incurred a debt in the form of the responsibility he had to use his freedom prudently. Yet, he would live his life abusing his new found freedom and turned it from a freedom 'from' enslavement to a freedom 'to' abuse. As Americans, we have also been endowed with a freedom that has come with the price tag of a great responsibility. Freedom is charged with exercising the tolerance, compassion, and dignity that must be afforded to all individuals in the world. In exercising our right to be free, we must insure that our national freedom from bondage does not become a freedom to oppress.
Exercising freedom is a process of practicing great restraint. America has a national heritage of economic wealth, mobility, and the freedom of expression. Yet, these basic freedoms, that are often taken for granted, come with an obligation to act responsibly. Wealth cannot be used to exploit a people that are struggling to climb from a history of poverty and into the developing community of nations. Our freedom of mobility does not grant us the right to travel to distant lands only to be occupied for the purpose of greed and political convenience. Freedom of expression requires that we speak honestly and with dignity for the purpose of promoting truth. We have the freedom of speech and movement, but we do not have the freedom to abuse these fundamental rights.
Being...