Rain and snow this evening will become intermittent overnight. Low 33F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precip 90%..
Rain and snow this evening will become intermittent overnight. Low 33F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precip 90%.
Updated: January 16, 2023 @ 3:55 pm
Freedom is possibilities. Freedom is hope and beauty and the daunting start to a new beginning. Freedom epitomizes the ultimate expression known to mankind.
It allows us to manifest our destiny. It gives us the strength to speak and to act. Freedom remains the one and true inalienable right granted not only by the Declaration of Independence, but also by the self-evident power granted by God and fought for by all.
Freedom is strength.It is power. It is, in a word, everything.
Protecting freedom has become a rallying cry and moral imperative we desire to spread throughout the world. Regardless of race, religion or even political belief (and sometimes because of it), freedom has become the desire of every man.
Whether you desire the freedom of wide open spaces, the freedom to choose, the freedom from slavery, or freedom from your fate, mankind should embrace this new year to inspire the beginning of brilliance and magic.
When thinking about freedom, I am inspired by my father. I am inspired by music, art, and philosophy. And I am inspired by those in our Valley. Take James Roybal, for example. He is a member of the San Bartolome Land Grant along with dozens of others, including his brother Chris Roybal.
When I caught up with James on a recent trip, the prospect of growth and opportunity shone brightly in his eyes. Perhaps future growth and expansion of the city lies in his and the land grant owners’ hands.
The freedom of vast open spaces and the prospects for growth remain boundless. Our Valley remains full of opportunity. It is rich with resources and people willing to express their freedom through action.
Freedom reminds me of my 77-year-old father who, always undaunted, is currently taking a trip through Mexico. I could have offered to buy him a plane ticket. But such offerings he would only brush aside.
No. This was going to be his trip. His choices.He was going to take complete ownership.And take control he did.
A trip that would have taken a few hours by plane to Mexico took him a whopping 34 hours by bus. Stop after stop we had no idea where he was. Every now and then we would get a simple text, “Made it to
Torreon.” And then he was off again.
What is it about trips? About buses? And trains?
I know what it is. They make us see life in a different way. The landscape whizzes by at a different pace. It’s almost like looking through a frost-paned window in winter. The mist from mom’s cooking sticks to the glass and we see it as a barrier to the outside world—a world that, if only we could dare to step out and meet, we would.
So, we do. We put on our coats. We get off the bus at the next stop to explore. We taste the snow or the empanadas from the lady at the corner selling food, burritos and candies. Fuel. Coffee or hot chocolate. Things to nourish us. Enough for to us take stock and warm up. Emboldened and energized, we travel on. Ready to explore the next wonder that freedom offers.
Freedom.Freedom to roam. To wander. To explore. Freedom from oppression. Freedom from the rules that tell us, “so long as you live under this roof you’ll do as I say.”
Freedom is liberating. And it takes many forms. From Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (which we’ll explore in my next column) to Greek mythology and even President Joseph Biden’s recent trip to El Paso (again, to be discussed in the next few columns), freedom expresses itself in the complete, abject yearning of all mankind to improve our current lot.
I once wrote about giving thanks. I gave thanks to a teacher from high school. She had read to us an article about how fortunate we were to have been born just a few miles away from the border town of Juarez. By luck of fortune, we were born as citizens of the United States. And somehow that made us better. Not morally or categorically, but through luck.
We were better, or perhaps more appropriately, luckier than those born under a different regime, a different government and a different socioeconomic status.
That teacher taught me to never take for granted the comforts and rights afforded to me because of the will of those who came before me.
I wanted to make her proud. I wanted to strive for something better. I wanted to run for office. I wanted to show to her that I would never take for granted those who helped me get where I am.
So I wrote that piece. I wrote to her soul from mine a letter of gratitude. So that she would believe in me, so that I would carry with us a pact that freedom would always overcome.
I hadn’t been in contact with her for decades. It was time to look for her. And when I finally did…I found an obituary.
She passed away about six years ago. This great woman. This great teacher of freedom and luck and beauty and all things good, is no longer. And I, this thing of no particular substance, ephemeral and passing, could not catch her in time to say one simple thing: thank you.
Thank you for the gift of love and passion and freedom. For it was this expression of freedom that I miss the most—that of serendipity.
Whether it is Freedom From or Freedom To, we must explore that which matters most to each and every one of us. In art and architecture, music and politics, war and job opportunities, and for our bodies and our guns, freedom plays a role.
It has been expressed through human suffering and human glory for thousands of years. It is radical and it is alive. The task is monumental.
What matters most to you? Who are you? What freedoms do you desire? And when you don’t take control of them, who will? And at what cost? God bless you and me. Because the task of our future is at hand.
Javier Sánchez is the former mayor of the City of Española, NM, and the co-owner of La Cocina New Mexican Restaurant.
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