Freedom & Bravery

At the end of The Star Spangled Banner, we find the phrase "o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." Freedom and bravery are two words that we use frequently in our everyday language - but do we really know what they mean?
The dictionary defines freedom as: exemption from the presence of something unpleasant; rights and privileges, as of citizenship; city liberty. Bravery is defined as: courage or valor.
Freedom and bravery o hand in hand. Every year, on the Fourth of July, we celebrate our freedom. That freedom, however, came at a high cost. Many people went bravely into battle and lost their lives for the freedom and independence that they knew they deserved. The freedom that we enjoy in this country came from the bravery of the soldiers on the battlefield and the bravery of our Founding Fathers. On July 4th, 56 brave men literally put their lives at stake when they signed the Declaration of Independence. Many of these men and even members of their families were killed, tortured, and torn from their families because of this bravery that they had. They stood up for what they believed in, they knew that something was wrong and they dared to take a stand to change the world. It was the courage of these men, the soldiers and Founding Fathers that has changed our world. Without their bravery, we wouldn't be able to call America a free nation.
Eric Hoffer, an American philosopher said, "When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other." This quote is completely true as we observe culture. People beg for freedom to express themselves but when they get their freedom, they just act or dress like the person right next to them because they are afraid to stand out or afraid of rejection.
Many people fear that their freedom may be taken away by our government. But, in fact, we aren't really 'free' anymore in this nation. If we were completely free, in my opinion, we wouldn't have government bail outs, we wouldn't have government health care, we wouldn't have 'unemployment' benefits or get paid by the government when we're unemployed. With freedom comes responsibility. We have responsibilities to go to work, if you don't go to work, you simply don't get paid! in the days of our Founding Fathers, it was a principle that "f you don't work, you don't eat.' That's how it should be. You shouldn't have the option to sit at home and collect unemployment from the government. Also, when you try to start your own business, you should have the freedom to fail. Starting a business is a risk that you're taking, you may succeed, you may fail. The government should have nothing to do with the outcome of your business' success or failure.
Our American 'freedom' is merely what we make it. Freedom is not free; it comes at a very high cost. Many men and women have lost their lives to fight for our freedom and we must continue to fight to protect our God-given rights.
To have and keep freedom requires bravery. If you don't have bravery, you shouldn't expect to live in freedom.