Each of Us Is Free to Be

A long time ago, the people who wrote, molded, and maneuvered one of the greatest legal documents in the history of the 18th century had to decide on one primary question: Is humanity basically good or evil? The question was vital, as the structures they intended to create had the possibility of changing the relationship of government and the governed.

Their decision was that individuals were largely good, but they should have support when they made decisions with their decisions reviewed by other largely good people. Their belief that everyday people could act in ways that benefited the population at large did indeed change the way people thought of government, and even more importantly, how they perceived themselves.

The result of the founders’ belief in the innate goodness and abilities of all of us to was shown to me at the funeral for a baby:

Ariana Joyce McMehan was never going to be a legislator, win Wimbledon, or be the toast of film, stage or song. For months before her birth, her mother struggled with a difficult pregnancy; after the delivery, Ari spent most of her life in hospitals. She was nonetheless valued and valuable a fellow being. When she left this world, her time here was honored, something that might not have happened, had the founders not decided that each person should be given a chance to prove themselves.

The funeral director said (perhaps he looked at the multi-racial Army couple as non-residents of his town) we should expect only a few people for the visitation and service; more than 100 were there, including social workers, healthcare professionals and people from my son-in-law’s Army unit who had occasionally begrudged him the time he needed to attend to his daughter and her special needs. In the open reflections time, the first person who spoke was a child of about five years of age. Her words and willingness to voice them led many to be willing to open their own hearts to public view, an action of equals unencumbered by class reticence or strangers.

In the end, we went our individual ways, and I doubt many thought of how the United States and its Constitution had enabled us to be who we were at that funeral, but that did not make it any less true.

We are free to love, free to be hurt. We are free to succeed or fail. Each of us is free to be the best person we can envision, or that for which we choose to settle. We are free to root for winners or be loyal regardless of success. We can believe in an ultimate Creator or think of the universe as a random accident. We are free to work for nothing but financial success or spend our time and energy on things or people who will (seemingly) never justify our investment.

This I believe: without Locke, Jefferson, Hamilton, Payne and the rest who followed, we could not have had that funeral, for we were equals who could not have been equals under any government that predated ours. If we occasionally can see the effect of these people’s work in our daily lives we then honor their intent, their vision, and their faith in the ultimate potential of every being who comes to earth.