Tag Archives: Freedom

Freedom Isn’t Free

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You’ve heard the words, freedom isn’t free. It’s a catchy phrase, thrown out on days such as the 4th of July. And it’s true. Our freedom was built on the backs of those that came before us.

My husband died a week ago. He was a Vietnam Vet who spent 364 days on the ground fighting for our country those many years ago. You could say he died for our country. Someone might question that statement as he lived a full long life. He didn’t lose his earthly life those many years ago in a foreign country, but a piece of who he was died in Vietnam, left behind, never to be the same again. I suspect it is the same for all those who have come home from the battles they fought protecting our freedom.

I didn’t know my husband prior to his service in Vietnam. I met him soon afterward. I saw the nightmares, the diving for shelter when fireworks were shot off or a car backfired. I lived with the part of him kept locked away, never to talk about until Alzheimer’s set in.

I saw his ways to numb the pain and the way he kept himself closed off so he wouldn’t always feel, not being able to handle seeing someone he loved hurting. He paid a price for our freedom in a war that wasn’t popular as there were no acclaims when those vets came home from service. So for a time they bottled it up inside feeling shamed for fighting for a war that was not popular, yet they still believed our country was the greatest there is.

On this day when we celebrate our freedom, many see it as a day off work. A day to party. A day for fun with friends. Yet we shouldn’t forget that we are celebrating our freedom. We have the freedom to worship. The freedom to speak freely. The freedom to move about our country freely and the list is endless. Is it any wonder so many are coming from oppressed countries to share what we have?

After Vietnam my husband was always grateful for seeing another day. It came from surviving. When fighting to see another day these men didn’t think about if the person next to them was black, white, or any other race. They didn’t care if someone was a Catholic, or Lutheran or Jewish. They knew their souls after sharing these life and death situations. Race and religion didn’t matter. They had each others backs.

Today as we celebrate our freedoms we need to be aware of how precious they are, and remember the sacrifice others made for us to be free. We must not let history be repeated with these freedoms are being threatened. Voting rights are being challenged and put down, women’s rights and the rights of those that are not white but different races are being trampled on, not to mention the right to live safely no matter the diversity in gender. Religions are fighting in the name of God, threatening those that have no voice. Freedom of religion was not meant for only certain religions to rule. Freedom for all seems to be threatened by some factions that want freedom only for those that agree with a certain point of view.

Freedom of speech, religion in our world todays appears to be chosen by whether we are Democrat or Republican, black or white. Our freedom was fought for on the strength of Americans on the battlefield. These men and women didn’t divide up by political party to protect our freedom. They were and are Americans fighting to defend our right to live free.

We take our freedom for granted. Today is a day for us to stop, in the midst of the revelry and noise and be thankful we are Americans. United we stand, divided we fall. We can make a promise to unite, not divide so freedom can ring always for everyone in this great land.

We owe it to those heroes dead and alive whose lives have been forever changed by their experiences in war who fought to protect our freedom to do better and not take that freedom for granted.

The Courage Of A Leader

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Something About Nothing published in the Albert Lea a Tribune January 16, 2017

Today is the day we honor a great man, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In case you don’t know, Dr. Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister and a leader in the Civil Rights movement. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was awarded posthumously the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was declared a federal holiday in 1983 by President Ronald Reagan, and it began being observed three years later.

In 1963 at the March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech in which he stated his wish that our nation would rise and live out the creed that we would hold our truths to be self evident and all men would be created equal. He wished for all to sit down in brotherhood and that his four children would live in a nation where people would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. He wanted people to pray together, work together and stand up for freedom together. In spite of the oppression he felt over his lifetime, he loved this nation.

I was a senior in high school in 1968. That is 49 years ago. I never thought when I was a teenager that we would still be fighting the same race wars in 2016. I can only imagine what Dr. King would say if he would be able to speak today.

I grew up in a white community. I remember the first time I met a black person. It was in the early 1970s, and he was the husband of my best friend from childhood. It was the first time I was confronted with choosing whether I might be accepting of someone of another race, and I was. My friend made a smart choice in her husband. My children who were 3 and 5 at the time didn’t notice color — they noticed kindness. I had been sheltered from the violence and race wars where I lived and was relieved to know that I could look at a person and see the person not the race.

I think the reason I questioned how I would react to the meeting was because of what I had seen on television and heard in the media. Living where I lived I didn’t understand what the rest of the country was going through because I didn’t experience it, and so making judgements just by what I heard did put a little fear in my heart of those that were different.

I had a little taste of understanding earlier in 1968 when I read a book called “Freedom Summer” published in the ’60s. I don’t know the author, but the book had an impact on me. I read it for a book report my senior year. It highlighted white college students volunteering in Mississippi during the riots to register voters. I read it, went back to my nice life, but I never forgot that book.

I can’t imagine having the courage of Dr. King, speaking out and leading against hatred and violence that was directed at him. Yet he kept going and it cost him his life, but in doing so he left a legacy to aspire to. He believed in nonviolence and he preached nonviolence, yet violence took his life because he had the courage to stand up against those who were intolerant.

Here we are in 2017 fighting the same injustices. I don’t remember a year in my life since those early days when I have felt the fear I have been feeling. It is a fear we are going back to those early days of intolerance of those who are different than us. I don’t remember a year when I have felt hatred running out of control again.

And I don’t like feeling that fear because for me, if fear takes over, the lashing out begins. The rational thinking goes out the door and my mind fuels on what might happen and is focused on things which might never occur except in my own mind. When that happens I take it out on those I don’t understand, and it leads to family against family, neighbor against neighbor and judgement and repercussions. The blaming begins and we never blame ourselves. We always find a scapegoat for our feelings.

I read the story of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. today. He deserves our honor. He gave his life so others could have a better life. He didn’t stay silent about oppression out of fear. I find others doing that today, staying silent out of fear, bowed down by those that are louder. Staying silent because they don’t want to be targeted by those that think differently. I find myself doing that or apologizing to those that are the loudest and don’t like my viewpoint, because I don’t want to offend them even when they are offending me or I don’t want to be their target. Where is the fine line between swallowing our pride and our beliefs and our conscience and still staying friends with those who bully our opinions so we don’t speak out?

We learn from the past. Soon we will be the past. What will our children learn from us? Will it be the same as we learned from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Will it be an education of courage?

Proud To Be An American

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I am grateful that I was born in the United States of America because my Polish Grandparents and my Great-Great Grandparents immigrated from Holland. I am here because they took the risk to come to a new country. This week is not only the week we vote but also the week we honor Veterans. My husband is a Veteran of the Viet Nam war. This week I will honor Veterans each day in some way on my Author Page and also on my personal page and my blog Sprinkled Notes. So Veterans, This week

is for you.

My column this week in the Albert Lea Tribune and The Courier-Sentinel

This past week my husband and I visited the VA Clinic in Minneapolis. Since the elections are tomorrow and this is also the week we celebrate our Veterans it might be fitting to write about our experience with the Veterans Administration and the Clinics and healthcare.

We have all heard the horrifying stories of the terrible healthcare and experiences people have had with the VA. But I am here to tell you our experience, and they are all positive experiences.

My husband didn’t get hooked up with the VA System until somewhere in the last ten years. We had an excellent Veterans Administration Officer both in Fairmont and Blue Earth that got the ball rolling for us. It didn’t take long, and my husband was in the system, and the benefits were available to him. He is a Viet Nam Veteran, and it had been hard for him to ask for help because of the stigma of the war. It was something he never talked about.

He was a patient at the VA Clinic in Mankato and then transferred to the Albert Lea VA Clinic when it opened because it was closer to home. We have always been amazed at the care of both places, the ease of getting an appointment and the excellent staff at both clinics.

The Veteran’s Clinic and Hospital in Minneapolis are amazing. They make it very easy to navigate and find your way around with all the volunteers they have to help those Veterans who come though their doors.

We had an appointment for a scan at 10:45. We were early and we checked in. We walked out of the doors of the Clinic at 10:46. And they had told us they were behind schedule. That is another thing we have found. If he has an appointment the wait is longer to get a table in a restaurant than it is to see the Doctor. This has been our experience.

This time at the Minneapolis Clinic I met another friend. Her husband too was there for a scan. I always meet friendly and interesting people on my visits there.  I learned about her family and she learned about mine. We shared experiences and we exchanged names and business cards to keep in touch. I suspect many other people’s lives touch at these facilities because they have a bond of a Veteran.

It is awe inspiring to see so many Veterans in one place, different ages and in different situations health wise. These men and women served our country. These men and women fought for our freedom. These men and women deserve our thanks and respect. These men and women all have lasting effects for their dedication to making our lives better.

The staff at these Veteran’s facilities also deserve our thanks and respect. They work day after day to make the lives of our Veterans better and also the lives of the families of those Veterans.

Does the system have flaws, of course, it does because it is run by human beings and we are a flawed creation. The media spends a great deal of time focusing on those flaws  but I would guess there are more heart and success stories than there are horror stories. We need to focus on the good these facilities, built for our Veterans, do for all of those involved.

 

It is Veteran’s Day on November 11. Thank a Veteran. Thank those also who work to serve Veterans.  Freedom isn’t free and freedom wasn’t meant to be abused. A Veteran protects and serves so those rights can be preserved.

 

When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn’t over for the veterans or the family. It’s just starting —Karl Marlantes