Chapter 6
Freedom Focused
This Life Leadership textbook seeks to ignite the cultural championing of personal freedom.
What kind of freedom do you seek?
Freedom from?
Or Freedom to? (1)
How you answer this question throughout your life will largely determine the extent of your happiness, freedom, growth, success, and peace of mind. My invitation to you, therefore, is to join us at Freedom Focused and become focused on freedom, now and forever.
Many people erroneously view freedom as a means of escaping duty and responsibility—the so-called right to do whatever you want. In truth, life has indeed granted you the liberty to think about, say, and do as you please. Life does not, however, exonerate you from the natural consequences of your choices.
Because you cannot control consequences—such is the purview of Universal Laws—doing whatever you please may bring short-term benefits and pleasure, but predictably ends in long-term pain, failure, misery, and penury of all kinds.
Everyone has the right to make poor choices. But no one has the power to circumvent or evade the accompanying long-term consequences, which are always negative and painful.
In other words: what goes around really does come back around. Karma is a real phenomenon. And in the end, you really do reap what you sow.
"As you sow, so shall ye reap."
—Law of the Harvest
—Old proverb
Unfortunately, people all-too-often seek after a pseudo sort of freedom—the freedom from toil, from trouble, from challenges, and from self-reliance. However, individuals interested in personal and professional growth—in other words, SELF-ACTION LEADERS—seek after the freedom to learn, to work, to strive, to persist, to try again, to pursue opportunities, to transcend obstacles, to overcome weaknesses, to become self-reliant, and to seek continually after "Constant and Never-Ending Improvement" (CANI) (2) in the pursuit of growth, happiness, success, fulfillment, and inner peace.
The Price of Liberty
 |
| Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia |
I have had the privilege of walking peacefully amongst the legions of graves in some of my nation's largest military cemeteries. From Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia and Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio Texas, to Marietta National Cemetery in North Georgia, and the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii's Punchbowl Crater.
 |
| USS Arizona Memorial Pearl Harbor; Honolulu, HI, USA |
When I consider the heavy price in blood, life, property, resources, and treasure expended to maintain my country's safety, liberty, and prosperity (and other nations my country has defended and fought alongside) over the past 250 years, my soul is subdued and my heart is filled with thanksgiving.
Liberty is not free!
It comes with a price—usually a high price that in some instances includes the ultimate sacrifice of human life itself.
 |
The late Robert Wai of Honolulu, Hawaii, age 95 at the time this photo was taken in 2014. Wai is a World War II U.S. Army combat veteran who helped liberate the Philippines from the Japanese Empire in 1944. On the wall is a picture of his brother, Francis Wai, who died fighting in the Pacific Theater in 1944. On June 21, 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton posthumously presented Francis with the prestigious Medal of Honor. Robert received the award in Francis's place. Click HERE to learn more about Francis's heroic actions that led to this special recognition. |
The commitment and courage of these men and women is one of the many things that fuels my patriotism for my country. It also makes me feel connected to and proud of other countries who have likewise sacrificed blood, life, and treasure on the altars of liberty, freedom, and the pure principles upon which they rest.
This pride and patriotism reminds me of the rich reverberations and righteous refrains of Lieutenant Colonel John McRae's famous poem, In Flanders Fields. McCrae's three stanza masterpiece serves a dual purpose. It begins as a tribute to those who had already given their "last full measure of devotion" (4) in the muddy and bloody trenches of the Great War. It ends with a challenge to those who lived on to fight another day.
Between the crosses, row on row,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce head amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. (5)
 |
| The Red Poppy Worn in the month of November to commemorate the service and sacrifice of Allied military veterans. |
Each November, citizens of Allied Countries all over the world (i.e. France, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, the United States, et al.) pin red poppies to their shirt, blouse, jacket, or coat in remembrance of those who lived and/or died fighting to uphold individual liberties and promote personal freedoms. Such days provide us with vital points of remembrance and serve as important symbols of recommitment to the values of liberty and freedom that all fair and just-minded persons and societies embrace.
If tyranny is the foe of liberty, then who, or what, is the enemy of freedom? There are many answers to this question. These answers include: inertia (idleness or laziness), discouragement, deceit, myopia, temptation, giving up short of a worthy goal, and ignorance of—or disobedience towards—True Principles rooted in Universal Laws. At Freedom Focused, our individual and collective aim is to rise up and fight against these enemies of freedom until they are defeated.
The Price of Freedom
Freedom, like liberty, also comes with a price that is often heavy and hard. Such price tags include significant investments of time, effort, diligence, work, sacrifice, determination, persistence, consistence, and patience. Meeting such exacting demands can sometimes feel overwhelming. But if you are willing to pay the price that freedom requires, you will eventually be compensated manyfold for your noble desires and due diligence.
Thus, being Freedom Focused pays big-time over time.
While you may not receive your "paychecks" as soon or as often as you would like, paydays always come eventually if you are willing to pay the price to earn them; and in many cases, the long-term compensations exponentially surpass whatever prices you had to pay to accrue them.
Like liberty, personal freedom is also susceptible to invasions and attacks from forces both external and internal. Like your virtue, your freedom must be willingly upheld, dutifully defended, and vigilantly protected, or you will most assuredly lose hold of it eventually.
At Freedom Focused, we believe that only life itself can compare to the value and importance of individual liberties and personal freedoms. And as Viktor Frankl and American POWs so compellingly illustrated in transcending the horrors of Auschwitz and the Hanoi Hilton, freedom is even more vital and valuable than liberty alone.
I seek after and cherish FREEDOM beyond anything else in my life, including liberty. Indeed, I would rather be a free man unjustly placed behind bars than a man at liberty who has relegated his freedom to the tyrannical forces of existential entropy, social pressures, and temptation.
Indeed...
FREEDOM is virtually everything to me.
It is my life's most salient and single-minded value and focus. It is also my greatest personal and professional quest. It is the reason I named my company, Freedom Focused.
Freedom Focused
—Will Durant
Henry David Thoreau once remarked that: In the long run, you only hit what you aim at. (9)
—Henry David Thoreau
Self-Action Leaders aim for FREEDOM—today, tomorrow, and forever.
Not freedom from exertion and struggle, but freedom to transcend self and other obstacles on a never-ending journey of personal growth.
Are YOU Freedom Focused?
SAL Mantra
- What service or sacrifices have your parents, grandparents, or other ancestors offered up on behalf of your country or homeland in the past?
- What service or sacrifices would you be willing to make to defend—or expand upon—the liberties your country or homeland presently affords you?
- Perhaps you or your ancestors have been unfairly treated, persecuted, or even enslaved or murdered by your country or homeland in the past, causing you to be suspicious of its moral compass and intentions in the present. If this is the case, what might you do to bring about a healing of past wounds and ensure a better life for you and your descendants in the future?
—Dr. JJ
Author's Note: This is the 372nd Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 184th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 371 FF Blog Articles
Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES
Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS
Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection
.........................
Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.
Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks
Chapter 6 Notes
1). I was first introduced to this concept by Felicia Cockrell, a friend of mine, who was introduced to it by a friend of hers. Others have written on the subject, as illustrated by related quotes and citations accessible in Book the Sixth, Chapter 9, where Felicia's remarkable SAL story is chronicled.
2). Robbins, T. (1991). Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Financial Destiny! New York, NY: Free Press. Pages 261, 517, 524.
3). From Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, delivered 19 November, 1863, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
4). Ibid.
5). McCrae, J., in Cook, R.J. (1920). 101 Famous Poems: With a Prose Supplement. Chicago, IL: The Cable Company. Page 11. Google Books version.
6). Communal liberty, however, is not always free, as evinced by the countless wars fought to preserve, defend, and protect it.
7). Durant, W. (1968). The Lessons of History. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. Page 68.
8). Thoreau's original quote read: "In the long run, men only hit what they aim at." We replaced "men" and "they" with the gender-neutral pronoun "you" for purposes of inclusivity of sensitivity.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Timely article especially at this time in history. Loved reading the poetry again. Most have forgotten the true meaning of the poppy flower.
ReplyDelete