Freedom to...

Freedom... it's a very interesting concept. In the natural, it means that we can do as like, when we like, how we like. We can say what we want, vote for who we want, etc. The list goes on. The problem with this is that our freedom to do - perhaps based on our morals or even that of our country or religion - may very well threaten or relieve someone else of their freedom. I found myself reflecting on this as news comes to us from Orlando about a mass shooting that took the lives of at least 50 persons, and even as we remember the many occasions before (both home and abroad) that many lost their lives at the hands of evil. I also had reason to reflect on this because of what happened yesterday.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to spend a few hours in Miami, specifically visiting the Dolphin Mall. It was one of those I'm-enjoying-some-Le-downtime, where I was free to do whatever I wanted - relax, window shop, eat... I was loving it. I decided with a hours to kill that I'd go watch a movie: X-Men Apocalypse. The ticket cost more than I would I liked (US$12 and it wasn't 3-D compared to the same or less for 3-D in Jamaica), but I'm learning that sometimes I need to stop always watching the bottom line and live a little. The theatre was dark, the movie started. All was well. Not too long into the movie, someone thought it appropriate to say, "Trump for president", twinning this with "get rid of all the Hispanics" (not verbatim but close). I couldn't help but remember the shooting in the movie theatre a few months ago. It was also evident that 3 of every 4 persons in the theatre were Hispanics (and yours truly the only dark-skinned person). At this point, I was not sure what would happen next, but I prayed that peace and good sense would prevail.

Fortunately, nothing else happened. The movie went on, I forgot about the distasteful comment for a few minutes and left in one piece. But I was disturbed in my spirit. Yes, it could have been one of those events that made the news. Thank God it wasn't. Importantly for me is that it showed how a leader or aspirant can incite people to hate, maybe even without recognising the devastating effect it can have through a "multiplier effect". A lot of the violence we see is because so-called leaders have been fueling the worse in people instead of bringing out the best in them.

How many more people are walking around with a sense of entitlement and arrogance that their race is superior to another? How many people believe that a particular ethnic group needs to be "gotten rid of"? With the Orlando killings, it also begs the question - how many people think that those who live a particular lifestyle deserves to die a horrible death? And how many people are waiting to use their "freedom to bear arms" or to carry a weapon or even to speak their minds to do something about it?

We live in a world that values freedom more and more each day. Unfortunately, some believe their freedom gives them the right to be judge, jury and/or executioner. It is a scary place to be and the only salvation we have is God. Only in Him can we have TRUE freedom! We can become people who know that though everything is permissible, it doesn't give us the right to do everything we please when it causes our fellow man to stumble (1 Corinthians 10:23). 

We were all fearfully and wonderfully made. The same hands made each of us. Maybe if we accepted this we would use our freedom more responsibly.