During the 4th of July we celebrate our country and its Constitution, and the many freedoms its gives us. And referring to the sacrifices our military makes, we say “freedom isn’t free”. Freedom isn’t free, although our military cannot bear the burden of maintaining our freedoms on its own. Part of the price of freedom that we each must bear is accepting personal responsibility and accountability for being informed, for participating, and for the decisions we make. This includes being honest with ourselves and others about the consequences of those decisions. Another part of the price of freedom is the willingness to sacrifice some of our individual interests and personal time for the greater common good. Unless both those who lead and ordinary citizens are willing to contribute to the price of freedom in these ways, our individual freedoms will erode and our common life will suffer.
