“He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”—Thomas Paine
I chose as the title a main street in my hometown of Pittsburgh. I might have gone with “West Liberty”, which was the main street in the Borough of Dormont (the Pittsburgh suburb in which I grew up), because I am now on the west coast where I am seeing the distortion of liberty much more personally. I chose this title, because liberty is a two-way street. As Thomas Paine, in more than just the above quote, stressed, we are not truly free—liberated—unless our opposition is free to oppose us. I am seeing such freedom with decreasing frequency in education as well as politics.
The term “liberal” has morphed into meaning something other than freedom. It has come to be a substitute for progressive and/or some extreme social liberalism. As we are increasingly seeing it is as a side of the ever-widening divisiveness of tribalism rather than the bridge. Education is increasingly protective of ideas—and feelings—rather than open to their uncomfortable debate. Politically, we defend the tribe rather than ideas. Politicians no longer need to say what they are going to do. Instead, they focus on how they are not as bad as the other guy (or, rarely, woman). It is painful to watch.
As an educator, I encourage my students to challenge what I teach. After all, the growth of knowledge comes from challenging existing ideas—not from memorizing lecture notes. Sadly, I am rarely taken up on this. When I am, it create unreasonable discomfort in the classroom. It should not be this way.
Liberty is the freedom to live and think the way one chooses to live and think. Liberty is checked by the liberty afford to all. One’s expression of liberty cannot harm another without consequence and challenge by another’s liberty. Thomas Paine is very clear on this. It is no surprise that he titled his writings Common Sense. Patrick Henry was so impassioned by liberty that he said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”
Liberty is a “third way” of living. It is to neither force one’s ideas on others or to take offense (or to be oppressed) by the expressed ideas of others. Liberty does not end in conflict. Rather it ends in growth. It is “other-centeredness”.
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13, NIV)
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!