This weekend, we’ll begin celebrating the 4th of July, which is Tuesday. There’ll be community activities including parades and fireworks to commemorate the beginning of our country in 1776 and our freedom.
The opposite of freedom is control. I’ve raised three children and along the way I’ve heard, “No! I won’t and you can’t make me.” I have to silently admit that is true, but parents still try.
I remember chocking down green beans when I was eight. After a summer day of haying, Mom included the vegetable from the garden when she fixed supper before Uncle Hookie and his daughter left for their farm. I only liked the pork chops and potatoes, but she said, “If you want to ride on the tractor with Doris when she goes home, you have to eat your beans.” The five-mile trip on the JI Case with my older cousin was incentive enough for me to clean my plate.
Continually governments on all levels from Washington, D.C., to the family issue rules and regulations. They range from the COVID-19 federal order to wear a mask inside public places to Mom’s edict, no cell phones at the table. We live in a carrot-and-stick society using both reward and punishment to induce cooperation.
Love is one of the biggest carrots we have. People do great things for those they care about. Mothers and fathers devote much of their time to their children. First responders work 24/7 to help their fellow citizens cope with problems. Soldiers give their lives for their country.
Money can be both a carrot and a stick. A boss may offer time-and-a-half wages for employees to work longer hours.
While driving on the tollway with its speed limit signs of 70 mph, I stay in the slower lanes because the drivers using the left lane are going much faster. I hope a trooper comes along and gives them tickets requiring payment of fines. Maybe that would change their behavior.
Do you have your own version of, “No! I won’t and you can’t make me,” to exercise your freedom?