Freedom for all

    While one does not have the right to jeopardize God-given rights, one must reason that there are times when my rights should be sacrificed if it means that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness will be protected for others. Since the preservation of freedom necessitates that I be willing to sacrifice my own welfare for another's well-being, freedom is not always a secure, convenient, or comfortable way of life.
    Had there not been great men in America willing to forfeit their own rights, including their lives, none of us in America today could expect to have the simplest of freedoms such as voicing our opinions in a public newspaper. Sometimes this means that good men face disfigurement and death in war. If I am not willing to sacrifice my life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness, to protect the rights of other human beings, whether American or not, how can I expect to continue to live free? Who will come to my aid if I am not willing to go to theirs?
    Can an American profess a belief in God and then refuse to defend and preserve another's unalienable rights while in service to God?

Michael S. Cole, M.D.
11 November 1988
Southwest Times Record


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