We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.
-- William Faulkner

IN OTTO'S BASEMENT by Louis Simpson

At the meeting of the village board

last night in Otto's basement

when they were discussing a building violation --

Why hasn't the building inspector reported?

The village lawyer is waiting to hear from him.

The inspector has to be told to "get off the pot" --

a picture drifted into my mind

from some Latin American country,

of men tied to posts, about to be shot.

Or perhaps it was Africa, or Afghanistan.

So we endure it. This is what Jefferson

and Lincoln had to endure,

sitting and listening to people

argue . . . the cost of conversion from oil to coal

and the statement by the tree-trimming committee.

If you want to know what freedom costs

look for us here, under the linoleum.

Dig between the end of the table

and the wall of some brown material

grained like wood, with imitation knotholes.

"The secret of happiness is freedom.
The secret of freedom is courage."

- Thucydides

A Freedom Song


Those among you
yearning to be free,
Look at the freedom all around.
See the freedom
of the roaring Sea
Rising and falling without bound.

Watch the strength of the eagle,
soaring overhead
carried aloft on unhindered wings.
Listen to the wind
whispering through the trees
hear the melody of freedom it sings.

Who taught the babbling brook to be free
or unleashed the chains from the sun?
What man lets the moon rise in the night,
and the dolphins to frolic in fun?

Who took the freedom that now you protest
and chained your mind in despair?
Where are the walls that imprison you now,
who fashioned the shackles you wear?

Freedom exists in the mind of each man
and each man becomes his own jailer.
We imprison ourselves,
with our fears and our hate
and our lives and our spirit become paler

So cast off your chains,
let your spirit be free
to soar with the birds in the sky
Choose to be free,
unhindered by care
and see how it feels to fly.



"Man is free at the moment he wishes to be."

- Voltaire


d;-)

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grained like wood, with imitation knotholes.

Being a woodworker and sculptor and all around lover of wood

this line had me laughing………

nice poem

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here's a good poem to share for the times....

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HAPPINESS

I asked the professors who teach the meaning of life to tell

me what is happiness.

And I went to famous executives who boss the work of

thousands of men.

They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though

I was trying to fool with them

And then one Sunday afternoon I wandered out along

the Desplaines river

And I saw a crowd of Hungarians under the trees with

their women and children and a keg of beer and an

accordion.

Carl Sandburg

I’m glad I live in a country

(Apocalyptic 4th of July nonsense poem)

I’m glad I live in a country

Where freedom rings

I’m glad I live in a country

And have nice things

I’m glad I live in a country

Where I can sing

I’m glad I live in a country

That will put up with me

(Brief interlude

Leading into

Apocalyptic finale)

I’m glad I live in a country

Where if I were to say bad things

About Muslims

I could still get killed

But that would be illegal

In an unprecedented display of self restraint, I waited till today to open this thread and look in on the Independence Day poem and quote.

Here we have the other cost of freedom, no? Not the sacrifice of life on a battlefield, but the sacrifice of hours and ease to promote the community good. Not to put oneself in harms way, but to put oneself in annoyance and inconvenience way.

My village just purchased a parcel of land to build a new fire station. My village won't enforce the dog waste policy. We thought we were being 'green' by adjusting zoning to allow the recycling plant to set up housekeeping in the fields behind the public school. Now we're living with the noxious fumes of 'green.' But the great next door neighbor guy (who does scoop up after his dog) was able to purchase his foreclosed-on property because of his good paying, steady employment as a manager at the plant. Silver linings in a state with fourteen percent unemployment rate.

On this July the Fourth, may Independence be informed by the higher virtue of Interdependence,

monica

Hi M, I was thinking of interdependence just this morning. Accompanying a loved one, we made the rounds. One stop:

To a neighbor

Died 1968

Twenty one years old

Store bought spring bouquet and flag

Fingerprint ID’d