Freedom

The definition of freedom according to Wikipedia is "...the human value, or situation, to act according to one's will without being held up by the power of others". In California I have watched our freedoms slip away as people make choices that infringe on the rights of others.

Three recent situations in my life are:

1. As I shop at Costco, Best Buy, Wal-Mart etc. there are employees stationed at the door to check and make sure items are paid for before customers leave the store. This policy was very offensive when I first experienced it at Costco but now I accept the lost of my freedom to walk out of store without justifying what is in the bag with someone stationed at the door. What a waste of money to pay to have our bags checked because of the lost of honesty in our society.



2. The PGE right-of-way behind our home has had a fence and gate put on the exit to the city street. The sad thing is I am willing to lose the freedom to have access to my backyard to not have more traffic behind my home (in the right-of-way) than in front of my home, on the city street, during the night time hours.



3. The back parking lot at our church has fences and gates that must be open to access most of the parking lot. Why should this be so? Was someone misusing the church grounds?

What happened to the days of my childhood when doors on homes, churches etc. were not locked? When a man's word was better than a signed legal document. My father was a dairy farmer and when he needed a mechanic to help with repairs on the tractor so that farm work could be completed the mechanic would come to the field with only my father's word that he would pay him when he sold the cattle in the fall. This mechanic told me, at my father's funeral, that he was always paid in full when the cattle were sold. Our word should be better than a signed legal document.

What freedoms do you see being given away in your neighborhood?