Freedom is Not Free

So, this weekend one of my facebook friends, a woman I am not particularly close to (she is my dad's co-workers wife and she friended me, and I didn't want to ignore her cause I felt like it would be rude) posted as her status:

"This is America. If you protest at one of our soldier's funerals then you don't deserve to live here."

I couldn't help but be a little peeved at this, to quote the constitution, which to me, embodies everything this country is SUPPOSED to stand for

Amendment 1 Bill of Rights:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

If soldiers are not fighting and dying to protect these rights what are they fighting for? I for one, would be appalled, if I fought and died for other people's freedoms just to have them taken away in my name or honor. Perhaps that's why I am not a solider. But Honestly, I think that represents the close mindedness that is strangling our country.

People need to recognize that just because something is tasteless and perhaps immoral, it doesn't make it wrong. It is tasteless to build a mosque near the world trade center, simply because it might offend people, it is tasteless to protest at a soldiers funeral, its tasteless to wear a swastika. I could list tasteless things all day, but the simple fact is that ITS A FREE COUNTRY, and people seem to have forgotten that.

During this fight against Terrorism, we need to make sure we remember who we are, and what we stand for. Keeping Benjamin Franklin's word's in mind "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Hope everyone had a good labor day, celebrating those who stood up together and demanded more.

Here is your Happiness for the day!

Blind Day:

I have had a headache for the past week, so I decided, maybe, my glasses prescription was no longer correct, so I took my glasses off, the headache wasn't all that bad, still there, but not all that bad. And I suffered through the day, squinting at the blurry people blobs moving about my office, seeing the stuff close to my face, but it wasn't enough to keep me from getting blind sided. In a facebook conversation with my sister. She is 19. We both agreed that neither of our parents could ever have part of our liver, and I realized, she can see them, as people. After she got offline, it took me a few moments to realize why this shook me up so much. There were the normal reasons of course, the guilt I feel for not sticking around to protect them (her and my other 2 sisters), the shame that this is my family, but then I guess the real issue is the wrongness of it all.

Children are not supposed to tell their parents, "you cant have a piece of my liver". They aren't supposed to wake up in the middle of the night and see their mother, passed out on the toilet. They aren't supposed to completely disregard a parents authority, and move in with a boy friend at 16, they shouldn't be able to throw a parent into a bedroom and lock the door. How can I know all of these things and still be blind sided by the fact that my Nineteen year old sister, who still lives at home, can actually look past the normal relationship teenagers have with their parents, and see them as humans. As actual people, with faults. I think that's what really threw me off. My mom is an alcoholic, and my father has given up, and it is okay, because I cannot change it, and, because they cant either.

Quote for the day: "I'm surrounded by gay midgets. Not sure if I'm bragging or asking you to rescue me. Wait for follow up" from texts from last night.