I recently passed a huge fenced in a parking lot. The entire fence was donned with hundreds of yellow ribbons. Shifting my focus slightly I noticed that the lot was overflowing with dozens of army tankers. I suddenly started to feel choked up. I am thinking, “We are at war. “

I thought of the hundreds of men and women who have died, just in the last year alone, while attempting to instill democracy and freedom in what was once the totalitarian government of Iraq. This leads me to think of the untold account of men and women who have, over the course of history, sacrificed their lives for the rights to live in a free and democratic society. Because of their sacrifices I wake up each day to knowing the advantage of living in the free and democratic society of America.

The term democracy literally means “power of the people”. In my world view democracy means that there is a political system in effect. This is where the legitimacy of exercising power stems from the consent of the people where the majority has ruled in a free election.

When I think of living in a democracy I feel an overwhelming sense of love towards humanity. I think that where there is a democracy there is a commitment to individual dignity. There is also the understanding that the ruling majority will respect and guarantee the rights of minorities and civil liberties, such as freedoms of speech, press, association, and religion.

My idea of a democratic society means that there are equal opportunities for people to develop to their full potential regardless of race, color, creed and political persuasion. There exists a freedom extended to the people to form opposing political parties. These people can then legally, without fear of intimidation or punishment run for office to fully voice their points of view.

I love, value, and honor my freedom above all else. It is the absolute most important aspect of my life, after my health. I acknowledge my freedom at its very core to be my ability to love. My freedom, which I cherish and respect, is my emotional and psychic experience of being at liberty. I am unlimited and unrestricted in my thought processes. Freedom removes internal and external limitation in my thinking and acting. Ultimately my results and my feelings of self actualization as a thriving human being are not compromised. I am free to flourish as G-D has intended for me to do so.

Freedom predisposes me to be a tender, creative human being who rejoices in the celebrations of life so that I am continually ushered into new possibilities. I can freely ride the waves of potential and promise. I don’t have to live in dark fear, moving away from my natural life force and collapse into resignation as a prisoner of my spirit and my intellect.

I further experience my valuable freedom to mean that I can make my own choices without any coercion and externally imposed restraints. I am free to choose my political affiliations with out force through oppression and terrorization. I have enormous empathy for those who aren’t in that same position. In Nazi Germany if you were not Jewish, but still chose not to be part of the Nazi party, you were sent to the concentration camps just the same.

I am not a slave; I am, in fact, free to work any lawful job and free to pursue the opportunities to make as much money as I want. I can also love whom ever I wish and we are then free to profess our love to each other. This wonderful free country further enables me to pursue an education and a career again at this mid point in my life. Democracy has made this possible for me by way of anti-discrimination laws pertaining to age and gender.

Liberty and democracy makes way for negotiation instead of having the circumstances of my life be iron clad per someone else’s doctrine. My autonomy gives me the right to believe in what I want. I have the benefit of selecting the friends I prefer to be aligned with. We then have the sovereignty to gather in groups and peacefully express our own ideas on the democratic streets of America. I love this sacred freedom and democracy that is my America.

It is easy to take freedom and democracy for granted when it is all that one may have ever known. I have relatives who tell stories of when the Nazi’s stormed through Germany and robbed not only the Jews of their freedom, but the entire nation of its democracy. There were hundreds of Jews, who like Francisco, sacrificed their lives by organizing resistance through out Europe’s many ghettos.

It seems that every culture has its tales of sacrifice. All people recognize that an attack on human dignity is actually an attack on the very essence of humanity. I am a free person today because of thousands and thousands of people from all points of the world who, like Francisco, recognized just this and stood firm in their beliefs.

War is an abomination to the planet. I know that it is often the only way possible to insure freedom and democracy. I don’t necessarily believe in sacrificing lives for a cause. I think of life as being too precious. I believe in democratic negotiation. I am, however, rooted in reality; therefore sacrifices have to be made.

First we all must understand the meaning of the sacrifices that we make, or are prepared to make to ensure our individual rights, and/ or, our country’s defense. We must clearly show our readiness to take our share of the responsibility for peace and for the defense of human dignity with all the values that safeguard us. This often means sacrifice. When I think of sacrifice today it means being realistically prepared to evaluate our comfort zones, re-check our priorities, take a stand, and be prepared to sacrifice accordingly.

All of us need to create a paradigm shift in our collective consciousness. We need to really get on a core level that without sacrificing immediate comforts we may be in very real danger of extended long term discomforts. Many of us are not willing to sacrifice the possibility of never seeing a family member again because they are at war. We should then, however, be willing to sacrifice part of our income to better support the military and the families of those individuals who are willing to go to war.

We should be willing to sacrifice indulgence in many of the comforts we have come to know. We must support our country in continuing to support our democracy and freedom. Not every situation calls for the level of sacrifice that was Francisco’s sacrifice, but we must always be open to making sacrifices for the defense of our country. If we don't want to be at the effect of any authoritarianism we must be ready to rebel against humiliation, insult or enslavement and never forget the sacrifices that went into establishing the democratic system that has so nourished our country, and give back to it in the best ways that we possibly can.