Where I work, I see hundreds of customers from a wide variety of backgrounds. After working this job for over two decades, I find ways to entertain myself. One of those ways is to look at people’s shirts and what’s on them. Like looking at a bumper sticker, your shirt says a lot about you. Since I’m in the South, I tend to see the word “freedom” a lot on shirts. This word’s definition is simple but is displayed in such a variety of ways that it’s like people are talking in a different language when using the word “freedom.” There are the classic Libertarian “Don’t Tread on Me” shirts, which on paper represent freedom in its purest form. Then there’s my favorite because of the irony: the Thin Blue Line shirt with “Freedom” written on it. The irony of having the word “freedom” represent an armed person having superior freedom to yours. How free do you feel when you see those lights flicker in your rearview mirror? Lol. This made me think about what freedom is. Is there a universal freedom, or are these just concepts in our heads? Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle.
That being said, I’ll define freedom with words and then elaborate as we go. Freedom is defined as the power or right to act, speak, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. It is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of “giving oneself one’s own laws.” From one perspective, something is considered “free” if it…
