Wafffle wrote:
That is actually a good question to ask everyone HLB! "Why did you become a freethinker?" aka. why out of all the different groups you could have joined when you signed up did you pick Freethinkerland? I for one resonated with Freethinkerland because I have certain faiths and beliefs that would only work in a society that requires their people to live in their truth and be who they are. No one can be excluded from Freethinking because all thoughts are free, so I think we might be an all for one and one for all type of society.
I am personally glad to know that I'm not the only one who understands the natural ability of people to think freely. That natural ability is often inhibited, by cultural values, and education in a formal setting. (ie;collages) Political Bias is taught in schools. I also have a faith in humanity. The desire to think freely, is a gift I cherish. Once you no longer need to impress friends,coworkers, or yourself; only then can you truly become a free-thinker. A free thinkers opinon, should never be based upon a single lecture by a professor. To many students of life fall into the trap of accepting anything taught in a school as fact. Sometimes that is true, like in the study of math. However when it comes to social, religious and political values, Nothing is right and wrong. Yet everyone always wants to win, and often will do anything, even at the expense of future generations, to be remembered.
Life is always changing, but people are by nature, resistant to change once they become comfortable. The masses, will support anything, as long as it doesn't effect them personally and there is something for free being offered.
I could talk about world poverty at this point......
How many people are denied free thought, in the Real World right now?
It could be debated that people with no money have no voice in politics or the future. The future of sustained living becoming primal, and not social as a matter of pure existence. Hunger and greed brings out the worst in people.
It also makes me ill to think of how much food I leave to rot in my fields. Due to government regulations and laws making the cost of transportation not worth the expense and instead become fertilizer for next years crop that I grow just for my own personal satisfaction, and what I leave on doorsteps of the poor personally. My freedom of expression was denied, even with something as simple as giving food away. So I had a free thought that had to be crushed, by bureaucracy. What would happen if the world actually worked together with a common goal?
I want to close this post with a story my father used to tell his children. It came from the Bible, but I've seen this example in practice myself.
You can give a family a fish and they will eat for a day.
You can teach the father to fish, and the family will eat for a lifetime.
Just something to freely think about. A fish doesn't change it's behavior. A fisherman can freely think with a goal and purpose.
This is why I became a Free Thinker.
Post script:
My father never took me fishing. My husband never took me fishing. My sons taught me everything I know. Part of being a free thinker, is also the ability to learn something new, from other people. I still don't like touching the fish, but my sons support me in doing things that are not exactly within my comfort level. My sons lost a father to death. I lost a husband and best friend. I suppose as a family we like to challenge each other. So if they want to take me to do something they enjoyed with their father, how can I dare say NO.
While I'm not hungry, I can catch a fish with my son's because for them the pride they have in such a simple activity, is that they are teaching ME. They sure love to laugh at my prissy attitude on the docks. It is BONDING, and though I'm often the joke on the boat, I'm always invited and they accept my squeamish flaws. I love being part of my children's lives, and I often forget who the parent is, that is teaching a fact of life to herself.
Life began for me when I had my children. ( que: My favorite song about being a Parent )
I began to be free to shape the FUTURE by a simple thought, wish and love.
I cry a tear, because I know my freedom, came at a cost.
PSS: I was handed a 10 day old infant today. I've held the future, and thus my sentimentality for the gift of a future freedom for the child. As far as Real Life goes.... the keys were handed to the next generation........ What they do with it, is now the BIG SHOW. Today I also just played with a six year old boy, and fell down playing some base-ball/ catch, and scraped up my arm, and bleed all over my clothes. His mother didn't like me covered in blood as I returned her child.
We both laughed at the folly, and the silly things people do. It was my own two feet that made me fall down. Fancy Catches,with gymnastics = epic embarrassment and something to laugh about later. A split second choice that was going to hurt me no matter what. I was free to make my own mistakes, and time to think about it tomorrow. I keep forgetting I'm not as young as I used to be. I got lucky, and didn't break my arm. I freely thought in a fraction of a second, too crash and burn
(also know as 'Tuck and Roll') and didn't worry so much about my perfect tan, on my skin. . Then I had too take the shame. A broken arm would not suit me in the least to start the summer season. I still landed on my right arm, and it took the punishment severely. My tan will not be perfect this year, but it is not the end of the world.
It was a free thought, and not an accident. I chose the lesser of the two poor outcomes yet both options would hurt me. I still damaged my right arm, but I think I'll survive to think again.........
Put me in a situation that reminds me of my own children, and I would still endure a little bit of blood loss to teach a lesson. Girls are not as fragile as they appear. The boy in question may have needed to see a woman, dare to do something a bit unique. He sure didn't want to leave my side, even after I presented him back to his mother. Go figure out that, with a PhD. Or do what I do and take a bubble bath to remove the blood, and ease the pain of allowing yourself to love everyone for who they are. A six year old boy, caused me too take a serious risk. He faired better than adult men in making me do something foolishly painful to catch a poorly thrown ball. All things considered, I scored some attitude points, with mother and child today. It was a fair trade, blood for fun.
Silly to think of it that way, but it might be just the rural-mountaintop-tramp in me that speaks freely.
