Column: What freedom means

One of the consequences of the present day, with any number of difficult challenges facing peoples and nations across the globe, will be a slow realization of the true meaning of freedom.

Citizens everywhere, but especially in the United States and the developed countries, will come to realize — albeit too late — that true freedom encompasses many dimensions.

Here in the U.S., we are well acquainted with certain freedoms. Freedom of speech, individual physical freedom, freedom to worship, freedom to choose our career, freedom from discrimination, a free market, the liberty to pursue personal happiness, and of course, the political and economic freedoms of a non-coercive democracy are among the freedoms that Americans can easily cite.

Most Americans enjoy some degree of these freedoms, but the conditions and circumstances of the 335 million people who comprise our population vary widely. We are an enormous country, with a hugely diverse people, and how we experience life transcends any generalization.

But one blind spot that many of us share is a superficial or simple-minded grasp of the idea of freedom. We readily see the freedoms that we want — even demand — for ourselves. But we are slow — or in denial — when it comes to two other aspects of freedom.

First, we often aren’t receptive to recognizing when the exercise of our freedoms reduces the freedoms of other people.

And second, we completely miss seeing a number of freedoms that we enjoy, but have come to take for granted.

In the first case — reducing the freedoms of others — we too often don’t consider the consequences of our actions. Is the exercise of a freedom impinging on others? Are we taking responsibility for our choices?

For example, when we purchase the things that we want — gadgets, appliances, clothing, TVs, cars, boats, houses, and more — are we guided by need or want? Do we need a larger flat-screen, the next generation phone, and trendy labels? Do we need the four-door pickup, the leaf blower, and a second home?

If we have the incomes, we are certainly free to buy all these things and more. But the true costs — which we easily ignore — are numerous, and they steal freedoms from people in the present and future. After all, money and resources used on luxuries or discretionary items are money and resources unavailable for critical needs.

Furthermore, most consumer items are manufactured in Third World countries where the labor pool is underpaid, exploited, damaged by occupational conditions and industrial pollution, and lacking in our freedoms and choice.

Additionally, as we constantly accumulate new things, we discard our old things, and thus are filling landscapes (but not ours) with mountains of trash.

So, we are executing our freedoms at the direct cost of the health, welfare, and freedoms of others. We may blithely drive to our second home on the Cape every weekend, but in doing so we are stealing the clean air of other people.

We may exercise our personal freedom to convert our diesel pickup into a renegade “smoker,” but in doing so we are trampling on the desires of others to live quietly and with fraternity.

With repeated use of herbicides, pesticides, sprinklers, and mowing, we may create perfectly manicured lawns, but we do so at the expense of the ecosystem, other people, and the future itself.

In general, because we are free and relatively unregulated, we are using whatever resources we want, to pursue whatever we want.

The second problem in our conception of freedom — the taking for granted of freedoms which we have gotten used to — is more subtle.

Many of us don’t recognize the freedom of having adequate food, water, clothing, shelter, heating, cooling, health care, and safety. These provisions are so secure for so many Americans that we don’t appreciate how free our lives really are.

We go to the sink, move a lever, and clean water comes out of the tap. We turn the thermostat up, and heat is delivered. We flush a toilet, and our waste disappears.

We have what President Franklin Roosevelt called “freedom from want.” We can be free of the basic fears and anxieties that afflict billions of people around the world.

But we are not truly free, not truly liberated. As long as we remain unconscious or uncaring about our high standard of living, and focused on preserving it to the detriment of others and the planet, we will be imprisoned.

We are imprisoned because we have been captured by an increasingly dysfunctional society. We are acceding to disastrous economic fallacies, political idiocies, technological dependencies, and no end of other irresponsibilities.

Don’t misunderstand this column — individual action cannot save society. Only completely redesigning modern civilization could have done that. But, at the same time, our heedless personal lifestyles signal how unmoved we are.

True freedom includes being able to see yourself and your society clearly, and being able to call yourself out, as well as your society.

Too many of us — and our society as a whole — live as though there are no consequences. As the current organization and operation of our societies — nationally and globally — are increasingly buffeted by natural and manmade developments and realities, we will steadily see negative consequences.

I am quite sure that at some point many more of us will wish that we had grasped the true scope of freedom when we had it.

Brian T. Watson, of Swampscott, is author of “Headed Into the Abyss: The Story of Our Time, and the Future We’ll Face.” Contact him at [email protected].

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