I am choosing the 15^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the USA to resume blog posting. The flag image posted above is from the presidency of the late John F. Kennedy. The words he wrote in the 1960’s still live on today in 2016.

Liberty one of the guiding principles that distinguishes the USA from every other nation. At the heart of our founding, the Founding Fathers, desired to protect each individual’s right to make choices of self-determination that do not infringe on the same right of others to guide the path of their life.

Harming or killing someone because you disagree with them is not self-determination because you are affecting someone else in a way that prevents them from following their desires and convictions. The choice to pray is an act of self-determination that is protected because when one person prays no one else is harmed in the process, unless they are coerced into praying against their will.

In my 59 years of living I have seen many disputes arise over the issue of liberty. Some disputes I have felt are genuine. Others I have felt are a subtle way of one group to control the actions of another group – thus depriving them of liberty.

The best way we can honor the lives of those who died or were harmed on 9/11/01 is to let liberty reign for everyone regardless of whether we agree with what they believe.

I am also struck that in September as we remember the 9/11 attacks and think of freedom, September is also the month when the suicide rate is high for students who feel unaccepted because of their sexual orientation. If am free to be me, then anyone else should be free to be who they are. Contrary to much opinion sexual orientation is not “chosen” in the same way one chooses to wear green pants or blue pants. Our sexual orientation is vested deeply in our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual make-up.

When our nation progresses to a time where people are not punished or ridiculed for who they are, then and only then, can we claim that liberty has arrived for all!