What is FREEDOM to you?

Here in the United States of America,  we are celebrating today.  Today (July 4) is when our country declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776.  In our Declaration of Independence are these words:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident,  that all men are created equal,  that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life,  LIBERTY and the pursuit of happiness".

When I think of the 4th of July,  three words pop into my mind:  independence,  liberty and freedom.  In order to think more about these three words,  I needed to distinguish between them.  Independence is usually associated with countries or nations,  and freedom and liberty more often applies to people.

The dictionary defines these last two as follows:
LIBERTY:  the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life,  behavior or political views
FREEDOM:  the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint

Liberty implies the power to choose among alternatives rather than merely being unrestrained, whereas freedom implies the absence of restraint or compulsion.  Freedom can apply to many different types of oppressive influences while liberty often suggests or implies deliverance or release.  It's interesting when we start studying words and their meanings,  isn't it????

Human rights are something we all are interested in,  whether we are in the USA or in other countries.  Human rights are also something we all struggle with daily. Rights are legal, social or ethical principles of FREEDOM or entitlement.

My question to you:  What is FREEDOM to you?  Does it mean that you can do anything that you WANT to do --simply because you have the 'right' to do it?  Does it mean that you are 'entitled' to the good life no matter what you do?

As an OLD WOMAN who grew up with parents and grandparents who worked hard  (even if it meant 2 or 3 jobs),  loved our country,  loved God, never asked for a dime from anyone ---and NEVER felt 'entitled' to anything --without working for it, I struggle with today's world where people don't want to work and feel 'entitled' to the good life --no matter what.

Freedom to me is living the kind of life our forefathers provided for us when we obtained our independence ---working hard,  not doing things to hurt someone else,  doing for others as we choose,  not expecting handouts from someone else,  setting an example so that our children and grandchildren will remember us as Patriots --who loved God, family and our country.

Here are a few quotes I picked up about FREEDOM:

• "Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged"--Ronald Reagan
• "Liberty is the right to choose.  Freedom is the result of the right choice."- unknown
• "Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one"--Benjamin Franklin
• "Life without liberty is like a body without spirit"- Kahill Gibran
• "Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free:- Dwight David Eisenhower
• "Let freedom reign.  The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement"--Nelson Mandela
• "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same"--Ronald Reagan

Happy 4th to ALL....  Enjoy your day!

Hugs,

 
ALL pictures came from the internet in today's post.

Around the Country in 19 Days

Well---we did it!!!!!   We just returned from the best trip I have ever taken in my entire life... We spent almost 3 weeks driving our wonderful Toyota Prius (which incidentally got about 53 MPG) across the country and back.  We put 5,414 miles on "Mrs. P",   drove through 13 different states PLUS Tennessee coming and going,  and managed to stop and visit gorgeous places ALL along the way.

We basically followed I-40 on the way out and I-70 on the way home (with several  exceptions along the way).  We had wonderful weather (rained only once for part of the day),  no construction or tie-ups on the roads,  and we paced ourselves so that we had enough time to see as much as we could.  We had temperatures above 100 degrees at times ---and temperatures in the 30's (with snow flurries) at other times... That made things interesting --as you can imagine!!!

Even though we saw some waterfalls along the way,  this was mostly a photographers' dream trip... I've never seen so much BEAUTY in my life. Believe it or not, George and I EACH took about 2500 pictures!!! (Thank God for digital photography these days!!!! ha)...  I think we will have blog posts for the next several years!!!!!

It's hard to know where to start ---and we are both still trying to get things organized, in addition to 'jumping' back into life here at home...  SO----I just picked out some pictures for you to see today.... Hopefully,  this first set will just be a sample of things to come.  Sit back and enjoy!!!!!

PAINTED DESERT

Our first view of the GRAND CANYON was breath-taking.  We started on the 'eastern' end --so that we could get a good picture of the Colorado River below.

This one was taken from ZION NATIONAL PARK.  There were huge boulders on both sides of the road --as we took the shuttle bus from place to place.

Since CEDAR BREAKS is at an elevation of about 10,400 feet,  we loved seeing the left-over winter snow while there.  I loved seeing the snow in this picture above.

BRYCE CANYON is one place which needs to be seen in person.  The 'hoodoos' are AWESOME.   They look like lots and lots of people standing side by side.  Bryce was definitely our favorite place on this entire trip.  We were there twice during this trip--and want to go back again and again.

What I liked most about the ARCHES NATIONAL PARK was all of the strange looking rock formations.  The picture above shows some of the "Parade of the Elephants"... Can you see the elephants in the middle and on the right????

At the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK in Colorado,  we felt like we were in Switzerland.  At an elevation of 12,183 feet,  we saw LOTS and LOTS of snow ---even though the temperature was in the 50's on the mountain when we were there. This place was awesome ---and our 2nd favorite place (after Bryce).

Glad to be home.. We have missed you!!! Hope your June was a great one also!  Happy 4th of July Weekend!!!!! 

Hugs,