Freedom & Opportunity

On my way to the cafeteria tonight, I was moseying along and stopped to observe one of the monuments outside my dorm. It was dedicated to Civil Servants and had a plaque at the front engraved with a passage on freedom.

Suffice it to say that it reiterated in me the importance and greatness of freedom. I felt to stand for it more boldly and appreciate it more contentiously. I walked away with my patriotic philosophical foundation sure.

When I arrived at the cafeteria, the doors were locked. It closed at 7:30 pm. I just assumed that because it was open until 9:30 pm the previous night that it would be open tonight. I hadn't eaten a thing since noon and was especially hungry because I was doing a live-foods fast today (fruits and vegetables, mostly). Disheartened, I sauntered back to my room.

As I passed the monument again I remembered my thoughts on freedom in the new light of my hunger. I was still just as free then to eat whatever I wanted as I was 10 minutes previously. However, being in the middle of nowhere I had no convenient opportunity to eat. Without such opportunity, freedom suddenly had less meaning to me. In fact, in that moment I would have given up my freedom to choose what I ate if it meant that I had the opportunity to eat.

In general, I consider my ideology to be somewhat moderate, especially when it pertains to conservatism and liberalism. I find it hard to believe that half the people got it right while the other half are idiots/evil. So I look for the good in each and I find that ultimately people want the same things, but place more emphasis on certain things.

It seems to me that folks on one side will emphasize the importance of freedom and protecting it—religious freedom and economic freedom, especially. Meanwhile, those on the other side are focused on opportunity—the chance to learn, to prosper, to succeed. Both are passionate and determined. While neither denies the importance of the other, both often focus on achieving one, sometimes at the expense of the other.

I venture to say that universally people would agree that we can and should have both. But can one exist without the other? Perhaps we must have both. Take away all of my opportunities and I can no longer exercise my freedom. Take away my freedom, and opportunity loses its meaning—becoming neither favorable nor unfavorable but rather inevitable. Yes, people assuredly would like neither one nor the other, but both.

I turned to the scriptures hoping to find spiritual insight on the subjects. In the index under the words freedom and opportunity, not a single reference is explicitly spiritual in nature. However, both words redirect to the same word—Liberty—which is used amply in the scriptures.

But aren't freedom and liberty the same thing? Interchangeable? Immediately I could recognize that liberty implied more than just freedom. Looking up the definition, I found:

Liberty [LIB-er-tee] Freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc. according to choice.

According to this definition FREEDOM + OPPORTUNITY = LIBERTY.

Even more interesting is that in the United States of America's Declaration of Independence the words freedom and opportunity are not used (and freedom only once in the constitution). Furthermore, not only is the word liberty used in both these documents, but it is used in the most well-known parts of them.

The Declaration of Independence: "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." (Bold and Italics added)

United States Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (Bold and Italics added)

Having recently visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the first time, the words of President Lincoln's laconic speech in 1863 were still fresh in my mind.

Gettysburg's Address: "Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" (Bold and Italics added)

Additionally, the famous words of Patrick Henry, "Give me Liberty, or Give me Death!"

Returning to the scriptures, there are many references to liberty in the New Testament. James teaches that "whoso looketh into the perfect law of Liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." (James 1:25, KJV).

The Book of Mormon contains its own references to liberty. One that is familiar to me is 2 Nephi 2:27, which reads, "Wherefore men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men." This is referring to our agency, freedom to choose, that God has given us. Even here, both freedom and opportunity are acknowledged, i.e. not only are we "free according to the flesh" but "all things are given [us] which are expedient unto man." In other words we have freedom and everything necessary (i.e. opportunity) to exercise that freedom.

So next time I hear two political opposites arguing, or read about the different visions of aspiring politicians, or just consider public policy in general, I will do so through a new lens that acknowledges the importance of both freedom and opportunity—LIBERTY.