A Pre-Amendment Freedom: First for Me

With all the talk of freedoms of various kinds, here's a reflection:  here's one that is non-governmental, can't be restricted or defined except by myself.  I am free to listen and receive.  I am free to INTAKE, to receive, to read, to absorb from any and every source out there.  I am responsible only to myself.  

This morning, I enjoyed Wait-Wait-Don't-Tell-Me on NPR ( hilarious!).  Every chance I get, I enjoy CAR GUYS on NPR.  The other day, I asked a friend if he liked CAR GUYS, since he is a total "car guy".  His response: "I never listen to NPR.  It's all liberal, you know."

"So," I asked,"you NEVER listen?  How do you know it's all liberal?"

Ah, the answer came:  the Guru of the airwaves told him!  And he quit listening.  So, he never tested the "guru", just listened to what he was allowed to hear, limited by his own political beliefs.

Somehow, a freedom easily and voluntarily given away to a political spokesman is hardly a freedom worth dying to preserve!  I listen, and in listening to lots of viewpoints, it becomes pretty clear who is straight, who is running propaganda, and who I respect even in disagreement.

If a tyrannical government takes away someone else's freedom of speech, I am deprived of content that might show me the truth, and that is bad.  The Soviet Union did that on a massive scale, and it fell apart!  If I deprive myself, then that is, at best, kinda dumb!!!

Listen to those who show themselves honest, even if different in belief.  Separate out those who use propaganda techniques to deceive.  But never give up the freedom to grow, to learn more than what we knew yesterday, to become more knowledgeable than we were, and to become more able to serve God and  country than we once were.