Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Every week, I post something here about aging. When it starts. How to feel better about it. How to maximize and optimize it. Etcetera.
And as much as I believe AGING IS A PRIVILEGE not everyone has the chance to experience, I believe more fervently that IT IS A RIGHT.
Recently, I read Walter Isaacson’s latest book, “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written.”
It dissects this oft-quoted sentence in the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among those are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I urge you to read the book. You can do it in one, short sitting.
Watching the news these days—and in particular, the news coming out of Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Maine, numerous college campuses, and other targeted communities across the United States—I cannot help but take note of the vast numbers of people who are being denied the rights guaranteed to them in that single sentence; not to mention the United States Constitution.
To me, in order to age at all—much less AGE WELL—each of us must have the opportunity to LIVE, to LIVE as FREE PEOPLE (and as a Free People), and to pursue those activities and possibilities that make our lives WORTH LIVING:
Time with family and friends.
Safe places to live, go to school, work, shop, and play.
Meaningful work for which we are fairly compensated.
The security in knowing that we and our neighbors are subject to the same laws, rules, and protections—and their equal enforcement—regardless of who we are, our race or ethnic background, how we worship, or where we live.
That is not the case right now.
For far too many people, the RIGHT to AGE is no longer a given—and that goes for children and adults alike.
Vaccinations that had virtually eradicated deadly diseases are now being demonized—and people are dying from those diseases once again.
Individuals—including American citizens and those lawfully in this country—are being unlawfully seized and sent to locations unknown without cause by unidentified, heavily-armed, masked men.
Innocent protestors and legal observers are being attacked, injured, and even killed at point-blank range, simply for peacefully exercising their legal rights.
And hate speech/hate crimes are not only on the rise, they are threatening the safety and welfare of those who may look different, speak with “an accent,” and/or worship a different God.
The fact is the rights and rules, laws and liberties many of us have long taken for granted are currently under assault—by our own government.
And if we do, in fact, want to age and age well, we cannot sit idly by and just let it happen.
Those who protest should protest. Those who march should march.
As for me, I write. And so write, I must.
Whether it’s political or not.