4th. of July … Freedom from Our Own Independence
The British are going. The British are going. Who would have thought that more than 200 years ago, Paul Revere’s famous cry of the “British are Coming” would have resulted in not only America’s freedom from England but also our freedom from work. Compared to our ancestors, look how good we have it. In 1776 the Colonists had to struggle with an occupational country that offered limited opportunity. They occupied our country, badgered us for money and we received nothing in return. Sort of like some of today’s homeowner’s associations.
245 years later we celebrate a victory that we did not even have to struggle for by applying sun tan lotion to our bodies and ketchup and mustard to our hamburgers and hot dogs. Do we ever take the time to realize how great we have it? While cruising down the Atlantic City expressway in New Jersey or the Santa Monica Freeway in California, do we ever give thanks to the Colonists that are responsible for our freedom? Or is it that the only time we appreciate our freedom is when the car in front of us gets caught in the speed trap that seemed to be designed for us? Freedom never tasted so great as when you just missed being ensnared in a speed trap.
In this great land of liberty, we are pretty much free to act as we wish with very few suppressive restrictions. But do we still suffer from certain restrictions and lack of freedom? Of course we do … and fortunately or unfortunately, most of these restrictions are self-imposed. Many of us have not searched for independence from our own negative and self-defeating thoughts. Do we have the freedom to seek self-actualization, to do what truly makes us feel alive? When the alarm rings on Monday morning, how many of us jump out of bed with unbridled enthusiasm? Or do most of us feel like the Colonists in early America who had no freedom of expression. How about the freedom to be free of many self–imposed physical and emotional ailments that could be dealt with by exercising our right to exercise and to have positive but realistic thoughts? Do we have the freedom and do we exercise this independence to control what food goes into our mouths? Do most of us make it to the gym as many times as we know we should? If we consistently find ourselves in the movie theaters nursing a bushel of buttered popcorn that seems to contain the amount of oil found in Kuwait more times than we have been to the gym are we truly free? Or are we caught in a behavior pattern that forces us to acquiesce to temptation?
It may be time to have a modern version of the Boston Tea Party. Let’s throw out the ice cream, donuts and other highly saturated fatty foods that are taxing our bodies with coronary artery disease and other diseases that are caused from the freedom to eat with reckless abandon. Let’s sift through and throw out the 60% of papers that are clogging our desk and interfering with our flow of success. Let’s take control and truly be free of negative behavior. The Colonists in a way may have had it easier in defeating their “enemy” and establishing freedom. They at least could see what they had to defeat.
Joel Weintraub is a stand-up comedian and humorous educator who has developed a stand-up comedy health show called, “Humor for the Health of it”. To book a show for your corporation or organization …. contact Joel at his website, www.healthhumor.com.
You can also order his book called Laugh and Learn About the History Behind Our Holidays … as you propel yourself to health, happiness and contentment throughout the year. Please order from Joel’s website or order directly from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Laugh.../dp/B09QVD6LBK/ref=sr_1_2..
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