True independence — from ourselves

Today we celebrate one of the foundational moments of our great nation. Independence Day is a time when we commemorate our separation from the oppressive tyranny of the British Empire.

Because our country was forged in an act of defying imposed order, our cultural mythos has long-embraced independent thought and rugged individualism. In recent years, that has manifested curiously, but understandably as a cry against undue governmental involvement in the affairs of private individuals, otherwise commonly termed “the nanny state.”

This constellation of influences when taken together — appropriately enough on Independence Day — gives us pause to reflect on exactly what we mean when we speak of “independence.”

On the one hand, there’s the naïve version of independence: I’ll do what I please, when I please. This is egoistic independence, hedonism and self-centeredness. In order to be independent under this definition, one must be unfettered, regardless of the potential for dangerous excess.

In many instances, we in America can do just that. We can smoke, drink or take drugs until it ruins our family and kills us. We can do the same with food, sloth and indolence. We can be intemperate and immoderate in most behaviors. You need not wear safety glasses or a steel-toed shoes, because at the end of the day it is your body — even if your maimed or dead corpse causes sorrow, expense and burden for all those left in your independent wake.

Of course, this kind of naïve physical independence is coupled closely with an equally naïve emotional independence: We are largely free to say, think or act toward others without regard to consequence. We are free to be hateful, insulting, bigoted, belittling, hostile, unsympathetic, greedy, etc.

As long as we don’t cross a few legal lines, barbarism can commence unabated. Narcissism and virtual psychopathy may rule our lives as we choose.

We have no legal obligation to do unto others, to be our brothers’ keepers … to be meek, temperate, chaste, thrifty, considerate, polite, efficient, kind or selfless. We may be as anomic and rudderless as we deem appropriate.

Contrast all of that with the person who thinks before they speak, who puts others before themselves, who understands that all actions and thoughts have consequences and who sees themselves as part of a larger whole. To this person, independence isn’t license to act without checks. It is the privilege of participating responsibly in a community of people who hold each other in high esteem and who respect one another.

Independence is also the ability to refrain from indulgences that feed unhealthy appetites. Being shackled to habits, be they poisonous chemicals or poisonous thoughts is a slavery much more profound than a master with a whip, because it is slavery self-imposed. It is the act of drawing a box tight around oneself and claiming dominion over the space within it. It is the kind of independence one sees when children fight over a toy: Both the prize and conquest are trivial, but the sleight required to achieve them can be lasting.

Yes, we can go through life as bulls in china shops. No one will stop us, but our own ignorant excesses inevitably lead to needless cuts from broken glass. That isn’t the price of freedom. That is the price of confinement masquerading as freedom.

In the main, we need rules. We need an authority to keep us within bounds. We need society to remind us that we are in this together. We need government to take up the slack when society can’t do it informally.

No, this kind of freedom isn’t as sexy. No movies will be made about quiet people living decent, orderly lives. Even so, on this Independence Day, we should stop to consider the kind of independence we really want and the kind our country really needs.

— From the Pine Bluff (Ark.) Commercial