We crave control, but live through a lifetime of changes. We seek organization and order amidst chaos and disorganization. Our societies create laws and rules so that our haphazard lifestyles blend instead of conflict. We have clocks and watches and computers and iPads and smart phones and even traffic lights to create order from disorder. We have work schedules, sleep schedules, time on and time off, appointments and scheduled meetings… all so that our lives fit together in some sort of harmony.
Disruption causes our problems: bumps in the road of life, people who disregard our rules and laws and time itself. These waves cause us to scurry around to restore order both in our lives and in our society. Restoring order is one of the reasons that we need doctors and psychiatrists to deal with all of the stress that we constantly face. Sometimes we are successful in lessening this stress or even eliminating it. Sometimes not, and even though we should always expect the unexpected, we are rarely prepared. Our lives are just too entwined and complicated. There are just too many conflicting vectors from too many sources. We can only juggle so many things at a time.
Interacting with many different personalities in many different situations is also stressful. People think differently about how we live our lives and conduct our business and raise our children. This can be difficult to deal with, but these constant interactions are necessary to continue the smooth day to day flow of our daily lives in our society. People who drop out: the homeless, the mentally compromised, the political extremists, can cause major bumps in the road. To counteract this, the orderly and organized must figure out how to deal with these problems and their inevitable effects. Bumper cars and pool balls don’t always go where we would like for them to go.
July 4th is our celebration of Independence Day. The opposite of independence is “dependence.” These are two basic ways of organizing people on a mass scale. Both of them imply different degrees of freedom. While everyone has preferences, freedom and independence are difficult to obtain and even more difficult to retain. Differences in these philosophies tend to erode freedoms at such a slow rate as to be almost unrecognizable. This is the danger in a large society with many different opinions and free speech. Erosion left unchecked can get to the point where there is no turning back. All is lost. Before this happens the vast , largely dormant, populace must be awakened to the danger and encouraged to actively participate in their own salvation.
Everyone needs to know the price they pay for letting freedom and independence slip away. Free lifestyle, free thinking, free mobility, etc, would all be compromised. The loss of any or all of these would reduce the individual to becoming a mere pawn in the hands of whatever form the state would take. Self-worth is squashed and nothing of value can be accomplished by the individual. Everything is to be done for the state.
So, this is Independence Day. Today and every day. July 4th is just a reminder of our responsibilities. With this in mind: Wake up! Smell the roses! Listen to the music! Tune in to your inner thoughts! Be a patriot! Celebrate our freedoms and advertise the fact! Protect our right to display our flags, and sing the “Star Spangled Banner” and our freedom to do this! And…God Bless America!