Living the Middle Life

In soviet Russia, the middle life is living.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Do you agree with Patrick Henry?

I will be leaving for vacation tomorrow. One week family reunion.

While I'm gone, I want you to think about something: Is it better to die free, or live a slave.

Now think about it, really think about it.

If freedom will eventually kill you, is it better to turn over all your liberty to the state? If the state can protect you from your inevitable demise, is turning over your land and property, your options and choices, and your dignity and livelihood, over to government bureaucrats acceptable?

Should you turn over your lives work and accomplishments to "the people" for a longer lifespan?

What about the lives of your children? Or your children's children?

Now think about it, really think about it.

Post a comment when you know what you think. I hope to follow this thought up when I get back.

5 Comments:

  • At 6:04 PM, Blogger Paul said…

    If this helps you think things through; my guess is that most peoples wishes will be relative.

    Relative off of how much liberty, to how long of life.

     
  • At 1:18 AM, Blogger Nat said…

    Presumably it is better to die free. But here is a conflict here between absolutes and relatives that begs for reconciliation.

    First: there is a wide gap between being free and being a slave.

    Second: freedom itself will not kill you, and the state cannot protect from the inevitable.

    Third: if one is concerned for the lives of one's children, it is not unreasonable to consider that an earlier death may prevent one from raising or even bearing children in the first place.

    Now, the obvious answer is to live free. Fighting for this will generally only lead to one's death in just that: fighting; wars or revolutions. Slavery (or non-freedom) is a political state of being, more or less inconsiderate of personal beliefs or declarations, meaning that one may not have a choice at all, depending on how one defines freedom. If a slave fights for a revolution and is killed, and the revolution fails, does he die free? (Of course that is only a semantic matter; we cannot judge the motivations for his actions based on their consequences, or lack thereof.)

    To me it seems like an absolute question that does not have an absolute answer (unless, perhaps, it is amended with "all else equal"). The answer depends on what best allows one to serve his or her neighbor.

     
  • At 8:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Sent you my email response since it was too big for a comment. You can post it if you like.

     
  • At 8:03 AM, Blogger Maggie said…

    The first thought that came to my mind was
    knowing the gospel = freedom.
    And you're going to die either way, and being a Christian, what difference does it make to me if I'm [current age] or 40 or 100?

     
  • At 8:04 AM, Blogger Maggie said…

    (What I meant to mention in the last part was then, why not have a happy life on earth and possibly set an example for others?)

     

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