The Excitement of Being Human
When we limit each other's choices by whatever means, we limit our own potential. After all, if we consider our humanity as the least common denominator among us, and if we believe we are equal but unique human beings, we share necessarily in the upper and lower limitations which man imposes on himself. Therefore, if we are truly looking to stretch the limits of our freedom on all human levels, we must actively strive to extend, and not limit, each other's liberty. For instance, the U.S.A. can never reach its extraordinary potential as a land of liberty, unless each person accepts every other person as a fellow human being. This national resolve would be the loom on which the fabric of liberty will truly be woven for the first time in history. You can't share in the spiritual experience of liberty unless you give liberty without reservation.
It seems to be intuitive to Americans that whenever we take any intellectual position that precludes the possibility of someone else's free choice of a position based on inalienable rights (unless specifically preempted by law), our position is not moral. The basic, or inalienable rights of life, liberty and the choice of happiness have to be the bottom-line considerations in judging our interpersonal behavior.
One of the most exciting things about being human is that whatever we are, we have just become, and whatever we will be, we are about to become. The real power of being human is our ability to continually recreate ourselves as often as we choose. We can choose to be happy or unhappy; self-assured or self-effacing; frustrated or fulfilled; competent or incompetent; thoughtful or thoughtless; loving or unloving; outgoing or introverted; pleasant or unpleasant; considerate or inconsiderate; etc. It's just a rehash of "The Power of Positive Thinking," but it is, nonetheless, completely true and obvious.
The problem with this concept for many of us is that, from time to time, we refuse to accept or acknowledge our responsibility for who we are. The responsibility for creating ourselves is often overwhelming, and sometimes it is more convenient to blame whomever we negatively perceive ourselves to be, on our parents, children, spouses, co-workers, teachers or bosses. Psychiatrists, ministers and counselors often help people by leading them to acknowledge and to accept the responsibility for being whoever they are, or whomever they choose to be. The realization that we all are responsible for creating ourselves is one of the gifts of wisdom. And, according to my definition of wisdom as "the obvious made apparent," if the concept of continual self-creation is apparent to us, we have acquired some wisdom.
Edited by Elaine Burns
