July 4th and 250 years of freedom
While still in the early pages of reading the book- Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, something deeply poignant came through. Time as a unit of measure, is a relatively new phenomena. Watches and clocks arrived to help us become more productive and achieve more in a 24 hour time frame. Several authors have written about how this coincided with the advent of the industrial revolution.
Many of us have stumbled across a version of this story “The Mexican Fisherman” a narrative through a short story “Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral” (“Anecdote concerning the Lowering of Productivity”), published by a German writer, Heinrich Böll, in 1963. About ten years before I was born.
The common threads across all this has been that the human being seeks freedom. Freedom to do what he or she pleases. To live untethered in a world that insists on putting guardrails across everything we do. This past weekend, the United States of America celebrated 250 years of freedom. Freedom as a nation, not held captive by another country. Instead an opportunity to carve out their own space within the confines of their own land.
Hearing from my Son as he saw the fireworks in Manhattan and seeing beautiful visuals of the airshows and tall ships parade, was a lovely reminder that the good will always prevail. That freedom is something core to all of us. Freedom to choose how we live our lives.
America celebrating 250 years with a documented legacy and history books full of incredible literature tracing the growth and development of mankind. Of innovation and discovery. In recent times, no other country comes close to what the United States has managed to achieve.
Exciting, exhilarating and a reason to celebrate! Happy Birthday America!