Freedom?

A truly iconic moment from any movie was when William Wallace (Mel Gibson) cried “that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom” as he rallied the Scots to battle against the tyrannical English. He, again, yells “FREEEDOOOM” as he was being executed. I can hear you, and I agree that this is very much an idealistic interpretation of a bloodied period of history. But I needed that image in your mind as I look at the concept of freedom! What do we mean when we talk of freedom?

The dictionary perceives it as a noun meaning 1) The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. 2) Absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.  

For me, it means the right to be who I want to be, to be able to voice my view on any issue without fear of reprisal, to pursue personal happiness and live the way I wish to live. I recognise it as encompassing all beings on the planet. Could it be this simply and I have staggered onto the answer that philosophers have deliberated over for centuries?

John Stuart Mills (‘On Liberty’) reasons that it is acceptable for someone to harm himself as long as he is not harming others, however, individuals are prevented from doing lasting, serious harm to themselves, or their property, by the harm principle, as no-one exists in isolation, any harm done to oneself may also harm others, and destroying property deprives the community, as well as oneself.

Quick précis: If you are not doing harm to another or their property you can do as you please? I like that ideal, but again does it define ‘freedom’?

Put just the word ‘freedom’ into your search engine, you will be very surprised at the result. The furniture store appeared first on the list; not my concept of freedom, although I do like their range of goodies. Next is Wikipedia’s entry for freedom, then Political freedom (Wikipedia again) followed by Freedom of Information (Australia). Really not much help here but scroll through a couple of pages….

I stumbled across the 2013 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual guide published by ‘The Wall Street Journal’and‘The Heritage Foundation’.Who identify themselves as Washington's No. 1 think tank; so maybe the answer we seek?  This is the web link, http://www.heritage.org/index/ranking. I found it to be quite informative and very user friendly. The page is easy to follow with graphics, stats and why your country placed where they did. However that is a side issue; what we want from this think tank is what Economic Freedoms are? They answered that,  it is ‘a fundamental right so that every human can control his or her own labour and property. Economically free society allow for individuals to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please, with that freedom both protected by the state and unconstrained by the state. Thus providing these free societies government to allow labour, capital and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself.’ Who know that our governments were working this hard?

To know that I reside in a country that ranks 3^rd in the world for economic freedom, and this is nice, but what does it really mean? I do not own property, I do have a job and I consume, however I never have enough left over to invest, but thanks anyway as it is a comfort to know that when I hit the top 10 in ‘The Times’ best seller list,I will be in the right place to capitalise!

But we are still no closer to an answer! To find anything close to what I think most would identify as freedom I was forced to pull out the history books. Freedom was most eloquently identified by President Franklin D Roosevelt on the 6^th January 1942 for his ‘State of the Union Address’:

• We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
• The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.
• The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.
• The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.
• The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbour—anywhere in the world.
• That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/fourfreedoms and you can hear the Man himself giving the speech (4.35), it is really worth it, as he was a true visionary and I have only copied a small part of the Address.

I think this sums it up for us all. And here I go again (rose-coloured glass, you have been warned!!) but if we adopted the concepts that FDR put forth in 1942, then and only then will we have the freedom we constantly try to immortalise in books and movies. I will leave you with this quote from another Great Visionary “Freedom would be meaningless without security in the home and in the streets.”  (Nelson Mandela, speech, April 27, 1995)

The images below are of people, who in my lifetime, have had to fight for their freedom. 

Freedom Rides in Australia  (1965) resulted in the Aboriginals gaining 'equality' by referendum on 1967. 

Freedom Riders in the USA (1961) help to end segregation. 

          .

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GROWING OLDER AND GROWING UP!

I initially decided to write this blog purely because I enjoy writting, and usually have a belief about most topics. Yes, I grew up with the ‘hippy’ ideology that we should all be able to live in peace and harmony with the planet and each other. Yes, I still wear rose-clouded glasses that I refuse to remove for anyone. On the odd occasion I do allow them to slide slightly down the bridge of my nose…not to far as the ‘real’ world terrifies the bejesus out of me. Today’s blog will thankfully be short because I do have something to say from the heart that does not require data to be included.

The past few blogs have been a mammoth task as I had to research the information that was included, however today will simply be personal observations. I have spent the past 20 odd years raising my children to adulthood with the main message being that they need to grow up, gain an education that would enable them to get a job, maybe travel, get hitched and have a child or two. After all this is what life is about – right? NO, wrong, so very wrong.

Stephen Covey maintained that “you should leave this world a better place than when you got here”. To achieve this you need to be happy, not just smiling but truly happy. To achieve this end you should do the things that make you jubilant. Many of my kid’s friends are marvellously creative. Some create whole worlds of people complete with personalities, lives, families and discourses, to share with like-minded and talented youth. Some take remarkable photos of the everyday to create the enthralling. While others write tales of magic and fantasy that rivals anything that you buy at the local bookstore. As a society we have taught them that these are not worthwhile pursuits, and they are uncomfortable to admit to their miraculous gifts.

I love the internet, the world really is at your fingertips, but sadly my generation opt to play mindless games, pay their bills and shop online. We opened our Facebook accounts to check that our kids were not into anything that could be deemed harmful. We do not go anywhere near the really interesting sites; we do not see the astoundingly clever and creative concepts our youth put together and share with each other. Our youth are aware of so many current issues that most of the Adults in the room have no idea about. The youth HAVE got it and it is us who have become apathetic to the world and its possibilities.

This week courtesy of one of these sites I have learned of an 87 Year Old College Student Named Rose who share with the Uni students this wonderful summary of life ~

“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humour every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change.  Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”  (Many thanks to michiamocristina from tumblr for sharing this).

Rose is right and so are many of our children; despite our best efforts to crush this seemingly intuitive knowledge from them. Remember to live your life without regret, if your friends are constantly trying to change you or worse belittling every idea you have, then it is time to change friends. It is your life and you need to live it how you want to. Have no regrets! Find the positive in life and lose the negative. Mimic the behaviour of our youth and pursue those creative outlets.  And in closing I will leave you with this lovely Irish Proverb to ponder. 

Dance as if no-one were watching,

Sing as if no-one were listening,

Love as if you’ve never been hurt,

 Live every day as if it were your last!

Bullying or Hate Crimes….

Today my 19yr old son and I had a rather heated discussion on the validity of Hate Crime Laws. Never one to discard any viewpoint I had a look at some of the information he had used and found myself looking into the issue further. So I have decided to make this the topic of today’s blog. All I ask is that you read to the end before yelling, emailing or generally raging.

In many countries the laws in place state that a person can be charged with committing a hate crime, if it is deemed that the crime was as a result of hatred.  I know that we have fought long and hard to gain the equality and justice we have with our legal systems today. Is this what is adding to the ever-increasing incidences of bullying in our communities? Are our laws actually inflaming the problems? Now I did warn you at the start to not yell at me, so just let me walk you through this reasoning.  

A couple of days ago I talked about Rosa Parks and how her actions highlighted the racial problems in the US of A. This led to gradual change whereby every American is afforded the same rights and privileges’ of citizenship. This was a huge step in the right direction. African Americans became more equal than they were but what about the other ethnic groups in America. Native Americans, Jews, Muslims, Hispanic to name just a few, did they get included in this shift in thinking? What of those with different ideologies, religions or sexual orientations? Did this change the thinking to only include those, that at that time, empowered themselves to change their destiny?

To commit a crime against a man because his skin is a different colour then yours it is deemed as a hate crime. To commit a crime based on the sexual orientation and/or gender identity can be considered a hate crime.  And this is as it should be! No enlightened society should ever tolerate a crime that is committed simply because a person is not like you! My son pointed out to me that most crime is based in hatred. Stop and let us think about that for a moment or two. 

MOST CRIMES ARE COMMITTED BASED IN HATRED.

In Australia, your typical models of a hate crime would comprise: the fire-bombing of a synagogue or a mosque or gay-bashings but not a rape, even if it can be identified that hatred was the foundation for the rape. I could find plenty of reports that looked at the level of violence and hate crimes against minority groups (racist violence, homophobic violence in the school system, violence against women with disabilities, violence against lesbians and gay men) but I could not find any figures that show how these reports and studies actually impact in a real way to protect these citizens. 

While the laws in America vary from State to State the FBI does actually have data that is easy to find and understand The FBI states that for 2011, that 20.8 % of incidents were motivated by a sexual orientation bias, while 19.8% were motivated by a religious bias. Racial bias incidents encompass the highest percentage of reported hate crimes. There were 6,216 single-bias incidents of which 46.9 % were motivated by a racial bias.

What my researching today showed was that no matter which first world country I Googled they all have some form of law to cover a crime committed by hatred. Very noble! But what of the other crimes? 

NOW IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO STOP AND ACTUALLY THINK ABOUT THE ISSUE.

• A gay boy bullied at school takes his own life because of the taunts about his life choices it is treated as a crime of hate. 
• A computer geek with acne and two left feet takes his own life because of the taunts he has had to endure since grade school is a tragic event.
• A girl wearing a burqa is bashed up because of her faith, this is a hate crime.
• A girl attacked because she is in the wrong neighbourhood is just an assault.
• The local police station is bombed because a couple of thugs want revenge for perceived wrongs, it is just a bombing.
• The local mosque is fire bombed it is a hate crime. 
• A ‘white’ man is dragged from his vehicle and beaten into a coma by any minority group it is assault.
• A ‘black’ man is pulled from his car by a group of angry whites and beaten into a coma it is a hate crime.  

While the about list are just examples I have based them in similar crimes that I have found in newspapers as I researched this topic.  Can we see a pattern here? Crime is crime and the colour of your skin; the God you believe in; your gender; your impairment or your sexual orientation should not be allowed to be the focal point. You have been savaged by a bully and that is the behaviour society should be addressing. 

While we divide up the crimes into categories of ‘not so bad’, ‘bad’ and ‘evil’ based on the race, religion, creed, gender or sexual orientation of the victims, as a society we are permitting BULLIES to terrorise us! Each crime should be judge as it is presented in court, and not left up to the media to add prejudices to whatever crime they feel will enhancement their rating that week. 

As a society we should refuse to accept any violent behaviour, be it in the home, workplace, shopping centre, school or in the street. We should petition our government’s to change the laws so that those who are found guilty of a violent crime are punished accordingly. This is the way to ensure that justice is serviced and not just seen to be served.  We should demand that the reports and studies are actually converted into authentic laws that work to protect those who are been branded and brutalised by thugs.

As I close I will leave you to ponder this! I found a couple of sites where women had been raped as a punishment for their sexual preference but I could not find a single study or report where this was looked at! Is this neither a crime nor a hate crime?

             In Australia we have our laws for discrimination under review please go to this site. 

https://theconversation.edu.au/free-speech-and-other-human-rights-the-clause-that-almost-sank-the-human-rights-bill-11901#_=_

• Please read this and stay up-to-date on this debate. It is only after these ridiculous bills are passed via parliament and the consequences ripple out, that the citizens of this nation get up in arms. Sorry, it is to late then to get vocal. 

ACTION THIS NOW.

• Talk to your local member, write a letter to a newspaper editor, ring your favourite current affair programme, and ring up that talk-back radio show you listen. Talk to your friends, do anything to get involved. 

DO NOT LET POLITICIANS SIGN AWAY YOUR BASIC RIGHTS.

If at first you do not get it right…

All too often when life gets challenging, we have an inclination to quit. Why? Is it easier to walk away with our pride intact and as few as possible knowing we did not get it right? Or should we put it down to experience, look at why we failed and try again! When did it become a crime to try something and fail?

• Thomas Edison sadly had his teachers tell him he was "too stupid to learn anything." Joining the workforce did not make the problem any better as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Thankfully Thomas did not give up but adopted the ‘try until you get it right’ method for success. He once responded when asked about his failures; “…If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward.” Without his perseverance Edison would never have developed a system of electric-power generation or worked out how to get it into homes, businesses, and factories.  This was a crucial advancement for the modern industrialised world and the world as we know it.  Edison is still to this day, the fourth most prolific inventor in history, with 1,093 American patents in his name, and many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He is accredited with numerous inventions that guaranteed the advances in mass communication, predominantly that of telecommunications. Some of these developments were the stock ticker; a mechanical vote recorder, battery for an electric car, electrical power, recorded music and motion pictures. Where would our world be if Mr Edison had ceased his work the first time he did not get it right?

• Albert Einstein, as named by Time magazine, was Person of the 20th Century. Many of us link Einstein with science, physics and genius. Would it surprise you to know that he did not show any promise as a child? Albert did not speak until he was four (typical speech would be about 300 words by 3 years) and did not read until he was seven. Both his teachers and parents thought he was mentally disabled, slow and anti-social. This resulted in him being expelled from school and was denied admission to the Zurich Polytechnic School. However Mr Einstein was made of sterner stuff and refused to listen to the expert evaluation of his abilities. His tenacity yielded results and end with him winning the Nobel Prize, changing the face of modern physic, in addition to the shape of our modern world.

Are we bored yet? The list is endless! Regular people who believed in their vision and themselves. Regular people who never gave up and end up changing our world. 

•  Charles Darwin: In his early years, Darwin gave up on having a medical career and was often chastised by his father for being lazy and too dreamy. Darwin himself wrote, "I was considered by all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard of intellect."
• Walt Disney: Walt was fired by his newspaper editor because, "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." Disney then attempted to start a number of businesses which ended with bankruptcy and failure. Did he quit? No!  Disney persisted and ultimately found his formula for success.
• Henry Ford: Everyone knows of the Ford motorcar and the modern factory assembly line but you wouldn’t if Henry Ford had given up after his first or second failure. In fact Mr Ford failed at his first five businesses but being broke did not dampen his enthusiasm. He went on to build the successful Ford Motor Company.

Yes, there are many women who have this ‘keep going until I get it right attitude’. Unhappily history does not teach of them. So as the token female representative I have selected a woman who uses her position of influence to enhance the lives of those less privileged. She is a great role model, a humanitarian and a successful business woman.

•  Oprah Winfrey: Most people know Oprah as one of the most iconic faces on television. She is one of the richest and most successful women in the world. Unfortunately life was not always easy for Oprah with her having to enduring a rough and often abusive childhood. Even her attempts to realise success within her career included the humiliation of being fired from her job as a television reporter, because she was deemed "unfit for TV." This did not discourage her, Oprah kept on until she gained what she set out to achieve.

The person I think of when I feel like quitting is a little old Greek philosopher, Socrates, and you are forgiven if you do not know him off hand. He was forced to take in own life in 339 BC (BCE for the PCs in the readership) but what he left as his legacy you will certainly know.

• Socrates contribution to modern society is ‘to always question and never simply accept because you are told’.  The Socratic Method or Socratic debate is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoint, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas. Socrates is one of the greatest philosophers and has influenced every era with his ideology. Wretchedly because of his new ideas, in his own time he was called "an immoral corrupter of youth" and was sentenced to death. Socrates didn't let this stop him and kept right on questioning and teaching up until he was forced to poison himself.  If he had not believed so strongly in what he was teaching or had stop when he was asked, the world would be a very different place now.

As I close I  have included the picture that started me thinking today. ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ holds a special place in my heart. My daughter read this book unaided when she was 4 and to this day it remains one of her favourites. As I was netsurfing I came across this interesting fact. It got me thinking, what would have happened if Dr Seuss had told his editor that he was right that there was no way one could write a story using only fifty words?

Next time you mess something up, stop, take a breath, and then look and see how you can make it work. After all you have just found a way something won't work, but you haven't failed. You should not be discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is just a step forward.

CAN NOT BE BOTHERED....

I am starting today’s blog with something I feel is important but rather than use my own words I have taken this except from a declaration whereby Obama proclaimed February 4, 2013, as the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Rosa Parks.  Have a read of the first part of the speech:

A PROCLAMATION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BARACK OBAMA

“On December 1, 1955, our Nation was forever transformed when an African-American seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. Just wanting to get home after a long day at work, Rosa Parks may not have been planning to make history, but her defiance spurred a movement that advanced our journey toward justice and equality for all.

Though Rosa Parks was not the first to confront the injustice of segregation laws, her courageous act of civil disobedience sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott -- 381 days of peaceful protest when ordinary men, women, and children sent the extraordinary message that second-class citizenship was unacceptable. Rather than ride in the back of buses, families and friends walked. Neighbourhoods and churches formed carpools. Their actions stirred the conscience of Americans of every background, and their resilience in the face of fierce violence and intimidation ultimately led to the desegregation of public transportation systems across our country.

Rosa Parks' story did not end with the boycott she inspired. A lifelong champion of civil rights, she continued to give voice to the poor and the marginalized among us until her passing on October 24, 2005.”

On the morning she went off to work, Rosa most likely did not think to herself “yes today I will change the world”, she was just one normal African American woman. However her one simple action of defiance would change the lives of generations. It can be stated that if not for her actions that ordinary day in 1955, the events that occurred at noon on the 20^th of January 2009 would not have happened. This was when the Presidency of Barack Obama began and he became the 44th President of the United States, making Obama the first African-American president of the United States. This was one of the events that were made possible when the quiet unassuming ‘black’ woman refused to sit at the back of a bus on her way home from a long and tiring day at work.

I did tell you at the beginning of my blogging that I had no real idea of where I was going with this but today I have spent much of my time both listening and reading about the woes of individuals, communities, groups, and countries. What I have noticed is that many will pass the issue off with an “I don’t care” or “it’s not my problem”.

Well sorry but it is your problem and you should care.

We teach our child that nothing is their fault. In trouble at school because they do not listen; sit still; punch another student; do not do their school work, yes the list is endless, but it is the fault of the teacher; the system; the kid they punched. We blame anyone but ourselves or our child. Do not start yelling that I do not know what I am talking about, but rather take an honest look at yourself…if you are one of this kind of parent then STOP and teach your child to accept that every action has consequences. These can be either good or bad but YOU must accept responsibility for the choices you make. Demonstrate by example and show your child that everything you do has a result and let them witness mistakes getting fixed up. After all that is your job to teach them how to live in the world.

Governments. Individuals who promise us the world, if we extend them the authority to run OUR nation. We have the right to expect honesty, loyalty and a decent way of life. Do they deliver? NO! In return for our show of good faith we are repaid by lies, treachery, cover-ups and back-room dealings. It is time for the politicians to accept responsibility for their actions. They should lead by example.  We expect a world where we can raise the next generation to believe the anything is possible. We will no longer tolerate our country being led by incompetent legislators.

I often hear stated “but I am just one person, what difference can I make”? History has shown us that it is the ‘one’ person who does in fact change history.  The fact the an African American, can make a proclamation acknowledging the actions taken by a 42 year old seamstress in 1955; and that he does so as the President of America, shows that one person can make a difference.

Peter Lalor led the Eureka rebellion, this event is credited as the key incident in the advances to the Australian democracy and identity. It can be stated that the actions of one man allowed for ‘Australian democracy to be born at Eureka’.

Eddie Koiki Mabo was an Aboriginal Australian man known for his role in campaigning for Indigenous land rights and the role he played in a landmark decision of the High Court of Australia, which overturned the legal doctrine of terra nullius ("land belonging to nothing, no one") which had and was Australian law with regards to land and title after English settlement. Similar to Rosa Parks the contributions made by Eddie Mabo have been acknowledged with Mabo Day which occurs annually on 3 June.

So next time you get riled up by something, do not yell at the television, or the kids or even your work mates. Work out a plan of action and follow though…you may well be the world’s next Rosa Parks, Peter Lalor or Eddie Mabo.

Carpe diem

I write for pleasure, relaxation and because I believe that I have a story to tell. Mainly I write for me, and yes it would be divine to a prosperous novelist, but not at the cost of a pleasure I have that services my sanity.

Life is short and too often I talk to people who do not have time to ‘smell the roses’. I feel distressed by this as you only get the one shot, why waste it trying to be ‘successful’ but miserable as a person. If you are not content or doing things that make you happy then take a long hard look at your life choices and modify what does not make you happy.

Will it work? I do not know, I do not have a crystal ball but I can state that you will feel happier within yourself.  I have read so many books that write this a theme and we all read them (or watch the movie) and promise to change our own life but that is it. My New Year’s Resolution for 2013 was to take control and live the life I promised myself when I graduated from High School in the 1970s.

It is not easy. This blog is part of my ‘seize the moment’, I have created a blueprint, I have a list of achievements I want to do. It is really remarkable when you look at what you want to achieve and, then match it to what you actually do.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Make your plan, add your comments. If you like what I have written then tell you friends. If you don’t like it use the comment box and let me know.

Greetings and Felicitation

I am a writer working on my first novel. It has been a work-in-progress since I was seven, and won a national writing competition. I have had a couple of poems published, and am currently building a collection of rejection letters.

I have decided to start a blog as I am very passionate about countless things. I do as many others do when frustrated; break into a tirade on Facebook. However, I have started to connect with several people who have blog pages. I have found them fascinating and find that I have been inspired to change things in my life as a result.

Hence my desire to start my own blog. I would like to be able to give a definite framework for this page, but I am not sure which direction it will take. So join me, reply when you like my topic and let me know when you think I have squandered your precious time.