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Freedom is not a dream

AN ENCOURAGING WORD:

May 25, 2012|By HOWARD COOP | Contributing columnist

Our nation, the United States of America, is known around the world as “the land of the free and the home of the brave” whose citizens love liberty, cherish freedom, and are willing to pay the price for these precious possessions. So, people from all over the world desire to come here.

The freedom we cherish is not a mere dream; it is a constitutional guarantee. In the Bill of Rights, adopted as the first 10 amendments to the constitution on Dec. 15, 1791, freedom is defined in clear and concise language.

The first freedom to be defined is the freedom of religion: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The second freedom to be defined is the freedom of speech and the press: “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

The third freedom to be defined is the freedom of assembly: “Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people to peaceable assemble.”

The second amendment assures the right to keep and bear arms: “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The Bill of Rights defines other freedoms, or rights, including regulations regarding search and seizure, provisions concerning prosecution, and the right to a speedy trial.

A walk though a cemetery on Memorial Day will be revealing. Small flags of our nation wafting in the May breeze will mark the graves of those who, in times of need, responded to the call of duty and served in the armed forces of our nation. Some returned, after a tour of duty, to resume a normal life. Others, wounded in service, returned to live with disability. But some made the supreme sacrifice and never returned.

Those small flags on those graves are poignant reminders that the cost of freedom is dear. Those buried in those graves risked everything to defend and preserve the freedom we cherish.

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