Bombings in Boston incomprehensible and rattling |
Bombs inside the Boston Marathon – virtually incomprehensible!
Much is being made about the future of events like these and whether Americans can continue to live the way that they live.
Many say no; America has become too unsafe. Security mongers, (people who make their living off the paranoia of people) tell us that our routine way of living must be changed to accommodate the new threats of our time and the need for better safekeeping. They insist that this country has become far too dangerous and people cannot survive unless we consent to significantly altering our lives.
Security has its place. Safety is important. But freedom is paramount. If Patriots Day - the civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 - tells us anything, it is that every day Americans are freedom fighters, ready to lay their lives down for the cause of liberty.
Benjamin Franklin once wisely counseled “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
America is a country that has known strife; a land once torn by civil war - a war that left hundreds and hundreds of thousands of its citizens killed and maimed across its broad landscape. Those lives were lost in the quest for a freer and more just society.
Most of what passes for safety and security today is nothing more than a snow screen, an expensive show. It stops little in the way of practical threats. Real security comes through the camaraderie of everyday civilians who willingly risk their lives to aid and protect each other. Whether it is wrestling a shooter to the floor on a commuter railroad, tackling a bomber on a plane, or charging a gunman before he can reload – our neighbors and friends will always be on the front lines. That’s what distinguishes American people from all others.
The loss of innocent life is always tragic. The pain of injury often lingers until death. But the loss of freedom transcends life itself. For, we are never fully safe and secure. We are at best only relatively so. I for one am far happier in taking the low level risks in personal safety which logically accompany freedom than I am in giving up one tiny particle of liberty.
Carry on Boston – carry on!
Comments