I have lived a small life, by some standards. Sometimes I think I could have lived differently—had more “success” in the world, as the world defines it – and I wonder what would have happened if I’d made even one different choice at some point. Would I have ended up here, now, in this house, in this town, in this life?
When I look back, though, I know that I’m right where I was always going; right where the path was taking me. I made the choices I made because at the time, they were the only choices I could make. If I could have done it all differently, I would have.
I made the choices that were right for me, at the time. At every turn, if I had made another choice, it would have been someone else’s life, not mine. I would have been living a lie. I chose what was right for me, what made sense to me, what my heart told me was the right way to go.
Now, I look at where I am and what I’m doing, and I know it’s all as it should be. I chose well. Maybe not by someone else’s standards or way of thinking, but I’m not living someone else’s life. Lots of things could have been different, but they weren’t, because I am me, and this is my life, my path, my choices.
My life would not be right for someone else, and that’s okay. They have their own thing. I don’t judge their choices, and I don’t care what they may think about mine. That’s what FREEDOM is all about.
Curiously, people online are VERY judgmental lately about how people should live, and our politics in this country has been dominated by a party for the past couple of years that has lots of ideas about how people should think and behave.
It makes me sad. It’s not the America I believe in. My philosophy of life can be summed up very succinctly: live and let live. I’m on my path, you’re on yours. Wave at me, wish me well as you pass, and then shut up and move on. I’ll do the same. I trust that you know where you’re going, and that you’re on the correct path for you, and I expect you to trust me in the same way.
That’s freedom.
We’ve lost that in this country—some of us—for a while. We’ll get it back, though. America is the land of the free and the brave. You can’t keep us—the majority—down for long. We don’t abide kings, or being lied to, or taken advantage of. Democracy works because if you make a mistake, you can correct it. We made this particular mistake twice, unfortunately, but we can still make amends.
Some lessons are harder to learn than others, but we’ll get there. I believe that. People are suffering and that’s not okay. We have to fix it–get back to thinking that we’re all equal, deserving of respect, and that we’re all due the same opportunities to succeed in our lives, in whatever way we define success.
That’s what America stands for. This is the land of opportunity. Free to be, you and me. Change is in the air, and I’m all for it.
Let’s go!
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Write on! Love your posts.