By Dr. Dina Evan

This month we are supposed to be celebrating our freedom. It takes my breath away. In almost every area of our lives someone is trying to take our freedom and choices away just because they can—with greed and a misuse of power. Some of those same people don’t even disagree, they just bend to political pressure.

We are talking about important freedoms: having our votes count without being changed or stolen, freedom to make decisions about our own bodies including when and if we have had enough pain and are ready to let go, and freedom to love whomever we want regardless of gender, color, religious beliefs or anything else. Basically, they are saying we don’t have the freedom to make our own choices. But they missed something. We still have the freedom to choose how we will respond.

Viktor E. Frankl in his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” says “Spiritual freedom, which cannot be taken away, makes life meaningful and purposeful. It is therefore not freedom from conditions that we seek, but freedom to take a stand toward conditions.” That means you and I have the right and responsibility to make a choice about how we will respond to this deliberate erosion of our rights.

We need to ask ourselves some pointed questions: how did women become less valuable than men, less promotable, less worthy of same salaries, less important, less electable? When did the color of one’s skin or the look of our bone structure make us less lovable, valuable, less worthy of respect?

When did the chasms of separation become more valuable than respect, honor and love? How the hell did we get here?

Maybe we forgot what is most important…our personal, individual integrity, spirits, and ability to love and accept without judgment. When all is said and done, this whole planet is a school, here to teach us something about ourselves as a human race and as individuals and so, who do we want to be and how do we change this?

First, we stop being desensitized by supporting the hateful rhetoric and behavior being promoted on TV, in movies and in real life. We stop watching shows depicting violence to children, women, minorities, or anyone. We stop going to movies and listening to music that depicts the same. We need to stop making it profitable for those who want to marginalize any race or any gender to promote hate and violence.

No, I am not naive enough to think we will do away with crime shows and westerns but we need to stop making it so profitable for those who cross the line of decency and promote hate, judgment and separation. Showing heinous scenes of men, women and children being brutalized crosses that line and our freedom includes the right to decide how we spend our money and say NO MORE!

Our freedom includes the right to begin opening our hearts and personally reaching out energetically with warm accepting smiles and soft conversation to people who have lived in fear because of the kind of country we have all unconsciously created. A gentle smile, a soft hello and a helping hand can speak more than words and create more than safety. It can create peace and meaningful connections.

Freedom includes the loving acceptance of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, in fact, it means remembering that all these people are Americans and even those who are not Americans, are people, human beings who deserve respect and love.

This time in our history is truly the right, perhaps even the last time, we get to step into our true selves, our spiritual selves and our freedom to be our best selves. Freedom asks us to change the direction from all that has divided us, to our spirits and humanity because we forgot who we truly are and what we truly want. Freedom asks us to discern the growth of our individual souls, the level of our individual enlightenment and the capacity of our humanity.

Freedom asks us to be loving, accepting, kind and to move humanity forward, not back or away from what we came here to do and who we came here to be…now, before freedom is a thing of the past. Let freedom ring in you, and in me, starting now for all of us.

Dr. Evan is a marriage, family, child therapist and consciousness counselor. She has presented nationwide seminars and workshops, written several books and created meditation CDs for couples, individual and mental health professionals. Visit drdinaevan.com or call 602-571-8228.