Freedoms of the Fourth

                This Saturday is the Fourth of July, a day when we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy in America. Sometimes the real reason for the Fourth gets buried underneath watermelon rinds and hot dog buns, but the majority of Americans appreciate the high price so many men and women paid for liberty.

            The list of those freedoms is long, but there are a few that jump to the top of the list. First, the right to disagree. Over the past few weeks, we’ve engaged in heated arguments about sensitive political topics.

No matter what side of the issue you’re on, the fact that you can freely voice that opinion is one of the building blocks of our country. And even though there are those who want to silence the voices that disagree with them, that’s not the way the hand is played in the United States.

I once worked for a man who’d immigrated to America from Hungary under mysterious circumstances. One day, I casually asked how he came to this country and he stated talking.

In his country, people could talk about politics in public places but they didn’t. If you were overheard disagreeing with the politicians in power, the police would come knocking at your door, and you’d be hauled off for questioning.

            Wanting better, in the middle of the night, he went to an unfenced spot on the border and waited for the guard to pass. When the guard was far enough away, this guy took off running.

            He said he could hear the guard yelling at him to stop, but he kept going with just the clothes on his back and the little money he’d saved. A week later, someone was shot crossing the border at that exact spot.

            The right to speak your mind without worrying the police will come pounding at your door at three in the morning is something I’m extremely thankful for in this country. Sure we get hate emails or nasty looks when we do speak our mind, but with freedom comes the risk you’ll offend someone.        

I’m thankful we can travel all over this country’s 3 million square miles without anyone stopping us at the state line, demanding a passport or official papers.

Not only can we follow the wide-open roads, we can follow our dreams, from anchoring a set of bull horns to the front grill of our old caddy to starting our own business and watching our ideas become reality.

Take a look at NASA –engineers believed we could land on the moon, and they accomplished that feat. Because we dreamed we could explore the universe, we know what the surface of Mars looks like and our satellites continue to find new planets and stars.

More than anything, Americans are willing to take a chance. Here in Fort Bend County, we brought in community and technical colleges as well as a major university, hoping enough people would want to further their education.

Thousands have filled those classrooms, believing an education is their best shot at achieving the American dream.

That dream is different for all of us. Martin Luther King Jr. talked about his vision for America. So did Bobby Kennedy, Oscar De La Hoya, Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey and the family that runs the store on the corner. Thousands of people have followed their gut and made their dream a reality.

Americans put into action what we imagine in our heads because we have the freedom to pursue our dreams.

So when those fireworks go off this Fourth of July, I’ll be giving thanks for the freedoms we enjoy and to the brave people who paid the price for those freedoms.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.