language and thought are wedded

 

freedom withers into greed

Milton had Satan realize the transformative power of the mind:

Heaven can become Hell, Hell become Heaven,

depending on the mind’s take on it all,

I think of Milton as I consider 

how the word and concept of “freedom” is used today:

the founders of our country wanted freedom

of religion, from religion,

of escape from tyranny 

where one’s life is subject 

to the whim of monarch, of government,

of escape from the past becoming destiny:

life of son to reprise life of father,

life of daughter at the whim of husband,

they sought freedom of thought,

of speech, of individuality,

now many minds seem to confuse freedom with license,

freedom equals greed, self-indulgence,

a fundamental reshuffling of the idea,

the lesser within people wants to not be shackled 

to community, to the other, to growing up:

I don’t want to wear a mask,

and I don’t care what that might do to another,

I don’t want to pay any taxes,

and I just want to spend on myself,

I don’t want to feel how my words can disturb another

so I argue for the freedom to be rude

and disparage politeness and inclusivity as “political correctness,”

such self-centeredness allows us 

to let the forests be cut down, to burn,

to let fossil fuels be consumed with abandon:

my car, my boat, my plane,

my unfettered tread upon the Earth,

more important than my grandchildren’s future:

supersize my gluttony rather than diet,

live for the summer and not prepare for the winter:

we can be the grasshopper and not the ant,

language and thought are wedded,

and I don’t like the cheating

that withers freedom into greed.

by Henry H. Walker

September 28, ‘20