Liberty v. Sarcasm

Attempting to be witty and sarcastic by poking fun at what I assumed was a flaw in our fundamental belief in liberty, our cracked liberty bell; I was humbled, quiet and in the end downright patriotic and hopeful.

I began to think about how fitting it was for this broken country with a severe identity crisis to proudly display a liberty bell with a crack.  Millions have shuffled by after waiting in line to see an object that can't even perform its inherent function due to its large character flaw.  As we bob along agreeable to almost anything because it's popular our pack mentality takes over and we become one glassy, wide eyed pair of peepers, a giant hand holding a fancy camera and two giants pair of legs marching in unity where only those with questionable choice in shoes are tossed out oblivious that they should be thankful for this rare 2nd chance at individuality.

Suddenly I realized every angle and weapon I chose to deliver a sting of sarcasm at the bell was met by thick and quiet resolve; rebuffing my attack with reasoning, of all things.  For hours I searched for the weak spot; a place to finally land my haughty opinion into its dense side and kill the notion of universal blind acceptance of something fundamentally flawed.  Even its painfully obvious crack was impenetrable and as the bell stood stoic I found myself exhausted and out of breath; slowly and finally giving up to settle on the truth that this bell not only has no flaws but the crack is exactly reflective of who we are.  It was true then and now timeless in its realism. Our liberty, even as we allow for the pursuit of it (on paper anyway) still accepts anyone as long as you are pretty, fair skinned, smart (the kind evidenced by arbitrary numbers like IQ and SAT scores), homegrown and pesticide free (** preservatives are still OK).

We are born into captivity but even in this are as close to freedom as we will ever be.  Even as we rely on others for mere sustenance and cannot command our bodies into autonomy; our minds, souls and hearts are fresh from the purest liberty we will ever know.

Getting older we avail ourselves less and less to liberty because even though we use it as our nations slogan we continue to compel our citizens that liberty is to be earned; preferably after retirement and with a healthy 401k.  If we happen to partake early liberty looks like lazy.  Work as much as you can; yes, in one week.  Please make sure your kids and lawn are well manicured which happens to also pass as good parenting and works for the neighbors next door who have the slightly bigger, newer house with the slightly smarter shinier kids who absolutely adore soccer and ballet while your 2.5 loath it and wear black lipstick.  Don't forget your car is big but the neighbors just traded the Escalade for a hybrid, as I recall, the same week they started wearing Tom's shoes and buying certified organic.  Somehow you missed that memo; ask Tom Tom to recalculate your route and put you back on course with the Smiths (who, as I am sure you know, started yoga which has them pulling out ahead of the Joneses)

The absence of time is liberty.  We constantly battle the clock and would have been ahead of it once if it hadn't been for the line at Starbucks; some people just don't know how to properly order a latte.  Large?  Skim milk?  How pedestrian.  Now I am late and the time looms over me like an anvil; work, practice, bedtime, last call, expiration dates, the hour my wife finally decided to go to bed so I can have some alone time-with my computer, and work deadlines so I can squash that incompetent douche bag next to me who leaves early to get his kids from school, never misses dinner at home and likes to see the sunrise before punching in.  Someone should really tell him he will never get anywhere with that lazy slacker attitude.

The only time we slow down is when we walk our daughter down the aisle and wonder why the last time she curled her tiny fingers around yours they felt impossibly smaller, are medicated enough to have no choice, put the phone and subsequently your knees down after that dreaded call or when we blessedly and luckily start to see that liberty and time are given not earned and not to be taken for granted.  Work, love, relationships and enjoyment of all things beautiful are about quality not quantity.

Death is perceived by the astute as the final and most grand liberty as the rest try to potion, medicate and treadmill away from it. &F why hi I had my x-rays and MRI read by 12345 I think six people and only one person diahreed witj at the radiologist a guy finger disagreed that there was a compression compression fracture so I'll take the 5 to 1 and nine I guess it's therenbsp;Give me liberty or give me death; it's all the same to me as long as I am free.