COME TOGETHER – Freedom of Speech

Have you ever been to a cemetery here in the Deep South? 

A while back, I was doing some family research and found that my great, great, great grandfather was a Union (U.S.) soldier who was captured by the Confederate army and eventually died in captivity, in Mobile, Alabama. 

Although we couldn’t find his name on any head stone, he is most likely buried as an “Unknown Soldier” in Magnolia Cemetery, which is full of unknown graves of U.S. soldiers, who had fought in the Civil War.  An American flag hangs high in this section of the cemetery.

As we walked further into the cemetery, we found a section of Confederate soldiers who had lost their lives in the war.  There a Confederate flag hangs high above the graves.  And that’s when it hit me.

Sadness tugged at my heart, when the realization of a country split in two became a reality as I stood in this historic land of the dead.  The thought of Americans killing Americans was enough to make me cry.  Even as I write this, water falls from my eyes.

There is no American flag waving in the air above the dead in the Confederate section of the cemetery, yet these were Americans, who bravely sacrificed their lives in battle.  They were fighting for freedom as well, the freedom to live their life as they choose, right or wrong. 

I look at our country today, with all this chatter of the KKK and Confederate statues, and the NFL players who refuse to stand for the National Anthem, and I cannot help but feel the lessons of the Civil War have been lost.

Freedom is more than a word with a definition attached to it.  It is a way of being; a way of living.  To truly be free, one needs to respect the freedom of all people, regardless if one considers the opposition’s belief to be wrong, as long as it is not impeding the freedom of another.    When you limit someone else’s freedom, you limit your own; plain and simple.  There is no way around it.

So what if the KKK rallies on a street corner somewhere in America. It means nothing unless you give it power.  You give their actions power when you give them your energy; when you give them your attention and allow them to disrupt your happiness.  Ignore them and they’ll go and hide back under the rock they came from.  But if you say they have no right to protest, then you are saying that you have no right to freedom of speech as well.

And so what if an NFL player does not stand during the National Anthem.  How is it hurting you?  Do you stand for the National Anthem in your living room, when it sounds off through your television?   I think not.  I have been in many of homes for football games, and the only behavior I have ever witnessed is a beer in one hand and a face full of food in the other, kicked back on a the sofa with feet up off the floor. 

Do not divide yourself into us and them.  We are the United States of America.  Instead of focusing on our differences, how about focusing on what we agree upon.  

There are always two ways to look at any given situation.  One is with hate and anger, the other is with love and compassion.  The KKK, the confederate statute debate, and the NFL/Nat’l Anthem, spotlights those freedoms that we celebrate as Americans.  We must hold tightly to this liberty of free speech and cherish it, or we will surly lose it. 

So don’t be so quick with your anger.  Hate cannot be conquered with hate.  It’s not a hippie thing, it’s a fact!  Focus your energy on the good, instead of the bad, and I promise you will be much happier for it.

And for the record, I am a former Ohio Army Reservist, with a legal background.  I know the U.S. Constitution, and I took an oath to protect it.