Essay on Freedom

For an assignment in my Social Studies class, I had to write an essay involving our recent trip to Washington D.C. Out of two essay questions, I picked the question, "What is freedom, and what does it cost?" I just finished the essay, so you can read and comment on it. What do you think freedom is, and what else does it cost? Is the cost worth it?

            For generations in this country, we have leaned upon the freedoms harbored by our founding fathers. However, we can often forget what freedom is or what it means to have it. Freedom is the ability to do and choose as one wishes without restriction, be it from government or otherwise.

            It is human nature to choose our own paths and follow our own ideas. This want to do what we want can be seen as a want for free will. Many of our founding fathers saw this, among them Lincoln, who we pay homage to at the Lincoln Memorial. He saw all men free and would've liked to see a world where this was true. He helped to shape our government, and this is but one reason we have freedom today.

            Humans have many rights, among those a right to be free. The rights of humans cannot and should not be taken away. This is echoed in the Declaration of Independence, housed at the National Archive, which states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." One can see clearly that humans hold many rights, including equality, freedom, life, and a pursuit of happiness.

            To uphold the rights the humans so obviously have, our government has to protect them. While there are plenty of outside threats to our rights, one simple danger comes from within. It is the fear that our own government does not guarantee us our rights. Without the freedom needed to pursue happiness, to control our own lives, and to choose opportunities, reserving our rights is impossible. To protect and secure our rights, the government must always uphold freedom.

            In the past, some of those who governed tried to deny people rights. While there were various reasons for the various governments to attempt this, a universal reason was to maintain order. Hitler's regime tried to do this, as one can learn from the Holocaust Museum. They justified this idea by saying that without the ability to do as a person wishes, they cannot commit harm to society. While this is true, people's rights and freedoms are far too important to be sacrificed for order. In fact, sometimes order must be sacrificed for freedom.

            No country today allows absolute freedom. I came to understand this after watching the murder-mystery play, Shear Madness. For there to be order in society, and to protect citizens, absolute freedom must be sacrificed. The freedom that we sacrifice is the freedom to harm. Few people find this to even be a freedom, but to deny it means to deny a person's action or choice, and that is to deny absolute freedom. This is one cost to protecting citizens and warding off chaos.

            Perhaps the greatest cost of freedom is the cost of lives. It is people like Hitler and the Vietcong that threaten the freedom that humans have a right to. Time and again, the United States has fought not only for the freedom of its citizens, but the freedom of all humanity. We commemorate this with memorials, like the Vietnam Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. If freedom is to be protected, we must be ready to fight for it.

            Freedom is the ability to do and choose as one wishes, without infringing upon the rights of others. The cost of maintaining freedom can be staggering, but it comes with good reason. It means supplying people with the free will that they want and deserve. That, above all things, is of the utmost importance to maintain in a society today where leaders have the liberty to do nearly anything they want. Luckily, our founding fathers, in their wisdom and experience, supplied us with the tools needed to uphold what is most precious to us: the freedom of the citizens of the United States.