We have survived the Independence holiday weekend here in the United States--three days of food, parades and other festivities, food, races, surfing, sand castles, more food, beach combing, an art faire, food, and tripling the population of our small town. It was great fun and the weather cooperated all three days, except right when the fireworks display began: it turned very foggy. But everyone had spent the day with friends and relatives doing happy things and just enjoyed the colored fog and the noise, LOL.

One thing I always notice on extended holiday weekends is how much trouble visitors have negotiating our streets. We have only three or four traffic lights in the whole town, so most intersections have only a stop sign or maybe two. Many have no indication at all for right of way. That much freedom of choice appears to confuse folks from larger towns who are used to having for a traffic control device tell them when their right to pass occurs. Confuses us locals, too, with all the extra cars and pedestrians!

It makes me think about how much of our lives are similarly constrained by laws and rules of conduct, not to mention moral/ethical guidance. And how much difficulty we can have when decisions must be made sometimes without an external authority advising and watching. So, here's the latest article from the Baha'i site at BellaOnline.com.

Freedom License and True Liberty
"Freedom is not a matter of place. It is a condition...When one is released from the prison of self, that is indeed release, for that is the greater prison."

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art183658.asp

Do visit bahai.bellaonline.com for more articles on ways to change the world through improved parenting, education, and tools for character building, plus links to the sacred texts of the Bahá'í Faith. You don't have to rely on only my understanding, when you can go straight to the source!

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Cheryll Schuette, Baha'i Editor
http://bahai.bellaonline.com

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