Welcome friends. Thank you for stopping by and let me say, I’m looking forward to my new approach to this idea.
The truth is, I’ve been ruled by my fears when it comes to this idea. Fear is reasonable and healthy, it will always be with us, but it does not get to drive my decision making. That sounds definitive and easy, it’s clearly much more challenging than all that. However, I know the fear I’ve been hiding behind is only keeping me from being myself.
This endeavor is for me. The writing, the action, it’s for me because it feels critically important to put myself out there in service of ideals that I value.
Freedom is so critical to me because I personally need to be free. I need to be able to see that my world can be constructed based on my own vision and not that of someone else. I don’t want to have to live my life inside of a box, either literal or figurative. I have seen an increasing spin of what freedom means and it bothers me deeply.
It is easy to confuse individual freedom and equal freedom. Individual freedom is important, but so is equal freedom. It’s complicated to separate the two and it isn’t something most folks want to do. I’ve spent, perhaps too much, time thinking about the differences between the two. I’ve thought at length about anarchy and communism, capitalism and democracy. One thing I’ve found as a common observation is that only through application of careful thoughtful boundaries can freedom truly reign. Anarchy, devolves into totalitarian dictatorship because someone will have to put some rules in place so more people can be free to live a life that doesn’t involve fighting for survival against those who feel “free” to take from whomever, whatever they choose, even the others freedom…
So my world view is one of long term self interest. I find that my long term self interest is often best served by serving others. When I help raise others up, help coach, help solve problems, when I put my efforts into making more for others, I find that there’s more for me. When we support more freedom for others, we support more freedom for ourselves, to be who we truly want to be. It doesn’t need to take away from others to be that person for ourselves.
So this effort is truly for me. I have to get my voice out and I don’t care whether folks agree or disagree with me.
Stay Safe Out There,
~Zach