If you give thanks for one thing, make it this:
Watch our Truth in Two to find out why (full text below).
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Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappygoat.com
The movie Braveheart is a fictional account of the historic Scot, William Wallace. Wallace is legendary as a freedom fighter against English rule in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Hollywood version of the story notwithstanding, the theme of the movie for all people is the same. Having been betrayed and led to his execution, Mel Gibson, playing the part of William Wallace, is told to ask for “mercy” in order to relieve his suffering. The crowd is crying out on his behalf, “Mercy! Mercy!” When Gibson gains control of his ability to speak, the executioner quiets the people, saying, “The prisoner wishes to say a word.” All expect him to ask for mercy, to give in to the pain of his execution. Instead, to the astonishment of the quieted crowd, Gibson cries the one word that everyone wants, in one long yell, “Freedom!”
Freedom. It is what the citizens of Hong Kong long for. It is what the peoples of Afghanistan have fought for. It is the cry of every woman who is held in sexual slavery by abusers and human traffickers. It is the wish of every person on the planet who lives under the boot of some local or national tyrant.
Freedom is a precious commodity. Freedom is won with blood. Freedom is kept through vigilance. But freedom can be taken for granted. Freedom can devolve into license, a desire to do whatever one wants without responsibility. Freedom can be easily replaced by authorities who care more for their status and bank account than for the people they are to serve.
During this Thanksgiving week, I implore everyone hearing my voice, reading my words, to say the word “freedom” during your celebration. I would ask that you recount for those around your dinner table a story about someone who has died so that others might live in freedom. And when you go around the table to declare what you are thankful for, I wish that you would finish by mustering your brave-hearts to utter that word in unison. Freedom. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, thankful every day that I am free.