"FREEDOM!" It is mankind's most persistent dream.
For thousands of years, men and women have chased the dream of freedom.
They have sought it, bought it, fought to gain it, and even died to preserve it.
To be free has always been the great glittering goal of human history. In this generation, the age-old dream of freedom is a reality for more men and women around the globe than ever before. Particularly in the great democracies of the United States, Canada, England, Europe, and in the countries of the Western Pacific, individual freedoms are protected by the full force of law and government.
"It's a free country!" That claim is proudly declared in dozens of lands around the world. Certain personal freedoms are guaranteed to every citizen in any enlightened nation. These are the freedoms of speech, worship, the press, the freedom of movement, the freedom to vote, to assemble peaceably - the common freedoms of a democratic society.
These rights are automatically granted, at birth, to every man and woman in a free land. They need not be earned; no price is paid for them; they are the legacy of those who, in generations past, have built and preserved the nation.
But these common freedoms, by themselves, do not make an individual fully liberated.
There is another set of freedoms, rare and uncommon freedoms, that only a few individuals enjoy.
These are the freedom to be what one wishes to be, to live where one wishes to live, to support the causes one believes in, to explore the full and exciting range of one's potential.
Not many people ever experience that kind of freedom.
It is a rare, uncommon freedom that must be won; it must be earned; it is the result of one's own individual effort and vision. This kind of freedom cannot be produced by an act of legislation. It cannot be granted by government decree. Uncommon freedom issues from uncommon achievement.
True liberty requires not just the political right to pursue happiness, but the material means to do so. A person may be free to eat, but unless they have food, that freedom is meaningless.
They may have the right to live wherever they wish, but only the money to buy their chosen house will make them truly free to do so. A person is politically free to travel at will from Vancouver to New York, but that freedom is meaningful only if they have the money and the time to take the trip.
The freedom of worship is a common freedom that can be guaranteed by the state; the freedom to give a million dollars to one’s church is an uncommon freedom that can be enjoyed only by those people with a million dollars to give.
The freedom to travel is common; the freedom to travel in one's own plane, on one's own schedule, is uncommon.
The right to have a job is a common freedom; the liberty to work at what one most enjoys, without regard for the income, is an uncommon freedom.
Tens of millions, though politically free, are functionally not at all free to pursue life as they dream of it. They are free by law, but bound by the realities of no time, no money, and no prospect of things ever changing very much.
There is, however, a particular group of business people who speak often of freedom, who say that they have found new possiblities. When they talk of gaining their freedom, it is not the common political freedoms to which they refer, but the uncommon freedom to follow their dreams, the freedom to live uncommon lives.
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There are many freedoms.
The best freedoms are the most elusive ones - the ones for which the greatest effort must be made. | |
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the freedom to be a full-time parent, the freedom to share honest emotions unself-consciously, the freedom to trust and be trusted, the freedom to work where the heart and not just the paycheck leads, the freedom to be a hero to one's kids. | |
| There are more tangible freedoms, too, of which these entreprenuers dream: | |
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freedom from the alarm clock, the commuter-bus schedule, the nine-to-five drudge; freedom to live in that better house, in that better neighborhood; freedom to take the kids along when they want to go; freedom to play golf at Pebble Beach instead of Peckerwood Municipal; freedom merely to pay the bills; freedom not to worry about retirement. | |
These are truly uncommon freedoms.
Most men and women wish for them, dream of them, but never find a way to have them. Extraordinary momentum and energy comes from the conviction of people that they have found a way to earn those freedoms.
One entreprenuer puts it this way: "The best thing I get from this business is the freedom to look in the mirror every morning and know that I am becoming the person I've always wanted to be!"