Today is my 66th Independence Day celebrated as a patriotic holiday! It’s the 236th such 4th of July commemoration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence severing the political ties and tyranny with and of the British Empire. On the one hand, 236 years seems like a long time. But, in the scheme of things, the United States isn’t much more then a young adolescent compared to countries like England, Egypt, Greece, Italy and China, to mention just a few.
So, this morning, I used some ancient technology, a printed Encyclopedia Britannica. I looked up and reviewed that world-changing document penned primarily by Thomas Jefferson. It was, ultimately, signed by 56 patriotic men over a period of several months commencing on July 4th, 1776 representing what became the original 13 United States. These men, often referred to as the “Founding Fathers” pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honors to this concept that “All men (and we know that includes women and people of all races, religious convictions and so on) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator (however, each individual chooses to define said Creator) with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness . . .” If you haven’t read this document in a while or have never read it, it’s a worthwhile read.
The world was very different in the 18th Century. Travel took forever to go anywhere. Communication and news traveled at the speed of transportation since there were no forms of electronic communication. War, while still deadly and horrific, was much slower because the weapons of the time were primitive and, again, everything moved at the speed of transportation, already established to be slow. But, in the 1700’s and for several millennia prior, the concept of individual freedom and natural human rights was in the minds, hearts and spirit of people. And, yet, throughout the thousands of years of human history, there has always been a group of individuals who have made it their business to own and/or control people through various forms of slavery, oppression, mind control, fear and whatever other means they had at their disposal. Civilization improved the lot of the human race in many ways. But, at the same time, there was a cost and that cost was usually in personal freedom and the usurpation of human rights.
I want to make this perfectly clear. This post is not about politics. This is about you and me and our personal freedom and natural rights to live our lives any way we choose for our own purposes as long as we do not infringe on the rights of anyone else to do the same thing. To this end, there must be rules and laws to provide for civil order and protect us from each other. And, to be fair, most of the time when we infringe on the rights of others, it’s without malice or forethought. It’s likely by accident. I did say most of the time. Unfortunately, there always have been, are today and will be in the future, those who not only want their own freedom and fair share of a wonderful and happy life, but they want some or all of ours, too. They wear many hats in our society and do their best to disguise their true intentions and blend in with everyone else.
The Center Of My World
As I pondered all of these thoughts while reading the Declaration of Independence, I thought about myself. Yes! That’s self-centered. But, the reality is that I am the center of my life. The sun does rise and set around me – for my own life. That has nothing to do with you or anyone else. And, if you deny this is true about yourself, you’re simply kidding yourself and pulling the wool over your own eyes. Of course you care about your spouse, children, brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors, professional/work colleagues and so on. But, the bottom line is that each of us has to be concerned about ourselves first before we can care about anyone else.
There is no question that a well-trained soldier will jump on a hand grenade to save his comrades. The soldier is trained and conditioned to respond this way. This is also why many soldiers have a difficult time readjusting to civil life when they return from war and rejoin the civilian population. It’s also true that most of us will do whatever we have to in order to protect our family members from all kinds of dangerous situations. These are, of course, extreme situations and deep inside you there is something about your personal core values that makes you take these extreme actions.
Freedom begets freedom. Happiness begets happiness. Love begets love. Unfortunately, the opposites of those concepts are, true, too. Where are your core values and beliefs? How did you establish your core values? Who taught and nurtured you? Did your parents teach you that you have a free spirit and were born with the natural right to do and be anything you choose? Or, were you brought up to believe that in order to be successful and to have a good life you had to follow certain prescribed courses of action? What influences did your schoolteachers, college professors, friends, employers, religious leaders and others of influence in your life impart on you?
Has anyone ever told you that it’s okay to just be YOU and to do what you like, enjoy, are fulfilled by, have passion for and excel in? Maybe you have the intelligence and the capability of being an engineer or a doctor or lawyer or college professor or accountant or banker. You get the picture. But, none of these things and probably a myriad of other possibilities inspire you. Sure, perhaps you can earn a lot of money in those fields. But, if what you’re passionate about is writing or performing music, creating beautiful pieces of art with photography or paint or clay or maybe writing short stories of novels, exploring, white water rafting, camping, hunting, fishing, playing golf or tennis or a myriad of other pursuits, will the money replace your passion, love, joy, happiness, fulfillment and core values?
Personal Disclosure Is Good For You
I certainly don’t know the answer for you. I only know the answer for myself. I don’t want to be a hypocrite, so I have to be honest. When I was a high school student, I thought I was called into the ministry of a major denomination. However, I went to college to train to become a schoolteacher. I did this for two reasons. First, my father, a self-made man and who provided a very nice middle class life for his family, couldn’t afford to send me to the expensive religious, private college I wanted to attend without negatively impacting the rest of the family. Second, the college was 2.5 miles from my home. My family doctor had a relative on the campus who had the power to accept me for a work scholarship that allowed me to work on the campus while I went to school there. It was that work scholarship that introduced me to the sound and recording industry, not my college classes. It was that work scholarship that changed the course of my life. I realized that the ministry was not my future, my passion for recording and capturing music and sound was my passion.
I was in business for myself through college, graduate school and my nearly four years in the U.S. Air Force. The business “bug” and a certain desire to become a millionaire bit me and instead of following my passion for recording and, perhaps, not making as much money as I thought I might running a larger business, I chose the business route. I ended up hiring people to do the part of the business that I was most passionate about while I had the day in and day out headaches of sales, marketing, accounting, keeping the business afloat and the myriad of other details that running a business involves. I sold myself out, along with my own passion. For most of my adult life, I was a sell-out. I conformed to a committee I call the “Committee of They.” “They” being people who comprise a significant part of society (or so I thought). We become concerned with “what they will think?”
Whenever I extricated myself from some enterprise where I was tied to a desk, had responsibility for the welfare of people called “employees” (and I always seemed to find wonderful people to fill those positions) and had all kinds of other responsibilities, I’d be relieved of a lot of pressure. When I was back doing what I enjoyed, fulfilling my own psychic needs and making enough money to subsist at a level I was happy with, there were always outside pressures that made me feel like I wasn’t achieving up to my abilities. I felt I wasn’t as respected and held in the esteem that I should be. I guess this is called insecurity from that subtle “Committee of They.”
We all have passions. We all have dreams. We are all looking for happiness. Unfortunately, many of us will follow a path, either by plan or by circumstance that just doesn’t fit comfortably. It can be like a shoe. Some of us will hope that eventually the shoe will get broken in and feel comfortable. That usually doesn’t happen if it’s the wrong shoe or just a bad fit. Some of us will search for another shoe that is exactly what we’re looking for and we’ll donate the uncomfortable shoe to someone else.
So, here, for July 4th, 2011, Independence Day, is my own “Declaration of Independence.” You are welcome to adopt it for yourself. You can use it as a template and modify it to suit you. You can use it as an example and create your own from scratch. Or, you can choose to do nothing, shoot off some fireworks and go back to the same old rut tomorrow. I hope your rut is as comfortable as that comfortable shoe example.
Ed Helvey’s Declaration of Independence
When in the course of human events it became necessary for me to reclaim my natural, unalienable, human rights to Life, Freedom and the Pursuit of Happiness, I chose to change the direction of my life. Respecting that in any society there must be a set of rules and laws protecting individuals from the infringement of their rights by others, I accept and adhere to those rules and will do my best to neither interfere with nor infringe upon the rights of anyone else.
I choose to live my life by my own core values, dreams and passions and pursue my joy, happiness and fulfillment through activities and enterprises that allow me to express who I am for my own betterment. I fully accept my responsibilities and obligations to be civil regarding interactions with others and to be fiscally responsible and not become dependent or obligated to anyone else. I choose to pursue my passions and my dreams to the best of my abilities and be accountable only to myself.
Should I choose to share part of my life with anyone else, I will be cognizant of the other’s needs and natural rights and that they are equal to my own. When appropriate, I will offer assistance, guidance and other forms of help only to the extent that I do not infringe on any other’s rights.
In order to secure my own freedom to live my life as I choose, I will do my best to avoid, as much as humanly possible and limit when such avoidance is not possible, all involvement and interaction with local, state and federal governments.
I choose to live as simply as is consistent with my personal core values and needs. I will maintain a minimal impact on society and the environment, in general. I will be a productive member of society as long as it is harmonious with my core values and provides fulfillment, joy, happiness and is consistent with my passions. I will maintain positive, caring and mutually fulfilling relationships with those I am compatible with. I will avoid toxic, unproductive and unbeneficial relationships. I will give freely of resources I am fortunate enough to be endowed with and range from time to money to talent to skills.
I hereby pledge to be true to these declarations for as long as they serve me and allow me to live free and be happy pursing my passions and dreams.
This is my personal Declaration of Independence for this July 4th, 2011. The exciting thing about this declaration is that it is a dynamic, changeable document. I may change it from time to time as I grow and change. It could become more detailed. It could become much simpler. But, as I think about my life in its current context, these ideas seem to express what I’m about at this moment in time.
I hope you’ll give this some thought. Today is a patriotic, U.S. national holiday that commemorates a brave act that changed the world and the lives of, not only the 56 signatories, but, every citizen of this country. We have a lot of problems, strife, turmoil and dissension in this country today. But, we also have the tools and the ability, if, as a society, we choose to resolve the issues.
So, whether you are a U.S. citizen or a citizen of some other nation, how much more important is it that you understand and declare your own independence and freedom from a system that attempts in so many ways to turn us all into “one-size-fits-all” people? Have a wonderful holiday, no matter how you choose to spend it. I hope you reclaim your personal, unalienable rights to Life, Freedom and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Enthusiastically,
Ed
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