Thoughts and ideas are fluid-if you allow them to be. Beliefs though...are rigid things that people do NOT want changed. Change can be a good thing though-typically as we grow we change. I myself have seen changes in my own grandparents. My grandfather for one pretty much shocked me within the last year. But my thoughts today swirled around 2 people in particular-one I must admit pops into my head now and again. Mr. McClellan, who unfortunately passed away in the mid 1990s. Mr McClellan was my sophomore English teacher. The other person is a guy I used to work with that was from Iran, Ahmad. I will not attempt to butcher his last name.
Mr. McClellan was one of those "oddball" type of teachers. Our first lesson was righting our names in Greek, and I remember him always breaking down words like sophomore, wise fool. Looking back now I guess I wish I was a little more open minded about my teachers as he was terrific. But it was in his class that I started to write more anti-establishment type papers-questioning authority as I became more active in reading about politics. He encouraged my writing, but one day posed a question that did make a HUGE impact upon me. "What does it mean to be free?" I had my responses, but he shook his head. He told me he would tell me at the end of the year if I still wanted to know or hadn't guessed by then. I DID make attempts, but it was not until mid June that I got his answer. "To be free is willing to die for what you believe in." I was floored. I had never really given it that much thought. I know the direction he was pointing me, but I don't know now if that was meant for me to take literally. I mean here I am almost 20 years later still pondering this question. At first it made sense to me, people dying for their freedoms, flashes of revolutionaries and the lot. It was quite charming.
As I said almost 20 years later I wish he was still here to fire up this topic yet again. On some level I think that's what he wanted at the time-guess I am a little slow. But I DO question the thought of "dying for what you believe." I mean look at all the religious folks running around. Do I envision them as free because they will run into a building strapped with explosives? Do I think that an anti-abortion nutcase is free? They are shackled in their beliefs in fairy tales. Even those that are racist fanatics-though I think hate-mongers are closer as we are all one race.
Well, onto Ahmad. We both worked for Modern Continental-was he miscast in employment. An incredibly smart man, I used to love getting into talks on various subjects with him-THIS man should have been a professor at some university-not down in the mud with us. But we got into a discussion about "Proud to be " whatever nationality bumper stickers. He thought that was very ignorant. I know he put it more eloquently, but hey-I'm not. I never gave it much thought and was kind of taken back by what he said. But his explanation made PERFECT sense. How can someone be proud of something that they HAPPENED into? That if the person was born into it-they didn't EARN it. Again, FOR ME it got my mind running. I mean it is honest and it may hurt some folks, but it's the truth. Basically if you graduate MIT with honors, THAT is something to be proud of because it was something you EARNED-but not if you are just handed it. This stuck with me and still does...
Again these are just some random thoughts that pop into my head now and again. I wish that on this 4th of July you and your loved ones are happy and safe. I also hope that you stop and give thought to what it is that we do have as a people. We may not have it perfect and these are trying times, I just hope it gives light to things that are most important in life. I hope that as a people we start to open ourselves to those around us, that we start to advocate for more change. And we give up our petty differences and chisel away at beliefs that separate us and focus on things that will bring us closer together...