With or without the secret sauce?

Answering this question when you order a hamburger is simple and has a minimal risk of adverse consequences. The same cannot be said for all of our choices.

We are blessed in America to have the liberty to make virtually all of the decisions about our life upon achieving adulthood. Where we live, what kind of work we will do, how we spend our leisure time and every facet of how we exercise our faith are among the many choices we are free to make.

It is easy to take our liberties for granted, natural to forget that others in the world have never experienced such individual freedom, and common to overlook the untold number of men and women who sacrificed much and sometimes all in order to provide us this wonderful legacy.

Many times we are encouraged to act like other countries in how we live, but it doesn’t take much to remind us that we are fortunate to live at a great time in a magnificent country.

Recently I read an article about how the government in Cuba was installing 50,000 Chinese refrigerators in homes to reduce energy consumption. On the surface, the article appeared innocent and was complimentary of the gesture.

But upon further review, the facts revealed a different picture. The Cuban citizens had NO choice whether or not that they would like a new refrigerator. The article didn’t state what would happen if someone refused the government’s apparent benevolence, but I’m sure they wouldn’t have been given an award for good citizenship.

Nor was the new refrigerator free. In fact, the government charged each home the equivalent of $ 286. Because of the standard of living in Cuba, many recipients couldn’t afford to pay cash. Never fear, the government will eagerly finance the transaction for 10 years at a nice round interest rate of 10%.

In addition, because the people had no choice in the matter, many complained the new units were smaller and inferior to their older and often American refrigerators. There was no choice of color, additional features, or an opportunity to compare prices.

Before I appear too one sided, let me say that the Cuban bureaucracy was kind enough to dispose of their existing appliance. I would imagine that retaining it would be out of the question since the stated mission of the project was to reduce electrical consumption.

Nor is Cuba the only country that takes the burden of day-to-day decisions from its citizens. In one further example, a friend who lived in Germany serving in the U. S. military cited to me how the town he lived in made the decisions about painting houses. If the appropriate agency decided that your house needed painting, they would order a crew to take care of it and send the occupant a bill. What color should be chosen? No need to worry as the government would make that choice.

Our way of life is a precious one, and as we have been told repeatedly must be preserved one generation at a time. We are living in a time where one can choose to view everything as normal and stress free.

But, we cannot allow ourselves to be fooled. There are forces that are anxious to end the world, as we know it.

We must all be educated about what is occurring in the world beyond our daily lives; prepared in body, mind and soul to face challenges as they are and not as we wish they would be; and we must be willing to contribute our share in order to pass along the gift of liberty to the next generation.

As my late friend, and former Texas attorney general, John Ben Shepperd said, “To be born a free man is an accident; to live as a free man is a responsibility, but to do die as a free man is an obligation.”

The next time you order a hamburger, remember, there is more to our freedom to choose than whether or not to add the secret sauce.

© 2006 Richard V. Battle