Freedom of Speech...at least my thoughts on it...

I have been a member of the Air Force for the last 26 years (7 years active and the rest as a reservist). I joined because I truly believe in this great nation and the freedoms we have living here. What allows us to have those freedoms, besides God's grace? This is a no-brainer - the U.S Constitution. As part of the oath of enlistment a statement to the effect of "promise to support and defend" is repeated by me every time I re-enlist. It pertains to the United States Constitution among other things. One of those freedoms just happens to be freedom of speech.

So, you may ask, what exactly is freedom of speech? (If not, let's pretend...lol). Why is it important to us? Why do some in this country want to limit or take it away? Should we use it responsibly? I may not be from academia, but I have a few answers of my own in my view. Anyway, you aren't getting anything scholarly from me, just my thoughts about this from my heart. So here goes...

My view of freedom of speech is essentially the ability to speak your mind without the risk of being imprisoned for doing so. It is important because without it we would not be able to speak our opinions, like I am doing here. We would not be able to voice our disagreement with elected officials, if we chose to do so. We would even be limited in our everday lives - living in fear of being turned in to the thought police for anything we say to even a friend or family member. I am only naming a few here because there are too many to list. Many do not realize the importance of just this one freedom. Some even choose to try to stop us from speaking freely. Why? One reason may be they are afraid of the power of the written or spoken word. They are afraid that free speech will hamper their ability to control others. Again, these are just a couple of reasons. With our freedom to speak our mind comes with it some responsibility. What is that responsibility? And, what may be the repercussions of not being responsible? Those two questions are the main reason I am writing this today.

There are some inherent responsibilities with freedom of speech. Yes, we can speak our mind freely, and yes some may be offended by what we may say. When speaking your mind it is a good idea to know your audience. Ask yourself, "will I be offending anyone with what I am about to say?" If the answer is Yes - you can still do so, but be prepared for whatever criticism may come your way. Is what you are saying wrong? Probably not, but it did offend. Okay, if you can live with that, fine. Go about your life and forget about it. If you cannot live with the criticism or knowing you offended someone, there is but one thing to do about it...just simply apologize to the person you offended. By this, I mean, just do the mature thing and a simple, "I didn't realize you heard (or read) what I said, sorry if I offended you." Wow, how simple was that? Hmmm, makes you wonder why it cannot be done by some people. Well, after doing that, just go about your business like nothing happened. That usually ends the incident or the misunderstanding. Here is an example of an incident with me: A few months ago I misspoke in a meeting at work. I work in one department and we were discussing some production issues. Well, in the process, a question was raised about another department, my response was, "we aren't worried about them!" Well one of my co-workers has sisters in the other department and she responded with "I am!" My statement obviously upset her. What I said offended her, so after the meeting I went to her and apologized for it. I simply clarified my response about the other department. She understood and told me that I would not intentionally be uncaring and admitted that it was a misunderstanding on her part.

So, most times that there are offenses, it is just a mere misunderstanding as in my case. And things are usually forgotten after that. There is one other thing to do, after the apology. Be careful who is around or just be wary of how or what you say or write. Think again of who your audience is. Many times if things get out of hand it is because of the misunderstanding of the things said in response to your offensive statement. Oh, it also may be that you are reading into what is being said as a response to your comment. Whatever you do, don't get upset just because there are opposing views to yours.

I have been around many different people and the one thing I can be sure of is be careful of what you say in public. If I make a contradictory statement, there is a 100% guarantee that I will get some sort of response to that. Do I get bothered by that? No, I accept it and learn from it - then get on with life. But, then I be careful to try not to do it again. I do not want to take my freedoms for granted so I try to use them responsibly and respectfully of others. It isn't because I am that worried about what others may think of me. It is just that I know that the day will come that I have to face the Lord and He will be judging me on my actions as a Christian. Do I want to be held accountable for all the things I have done? I know with Jesus as my Lord and Savior I will be in heaven and it is by His grace that my sins are also forgiven. But that doesn't mean I want to face Him with all my faults and failings. So with my freedom of speech - I try to be respectful.

By the way, I hope that I haven't offended anyone with my statements here - I am just speaking my mind. If I have, at least give me the opportunity to clarify myself with you. Let me know and we can have a discussion on this as mature adults.

God Bless Us All,
Bob