People Should be Free
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
people should be free. I suppose there are few in this world who would disagree with this statement. I wonder how many of us consider what it really means when you grow up in the land of the free, it's easy to take freedom for granted. It was just a few years ago that I realized something I wasn't free. I wasn't free at all. I realized just how much of my life was being dictated by other things. There's the obvious stuff, the bills show up in the mailbox. But then there's the less obvious things like having a cell phone that was once a symbol of freedom now feels more like a leash, call it dependence or call it an addiction, call it whatever you want. But I'll be honest, I was pretty happy being led by its hand. You see dependence is just the opposite of freedom. And once you realize that all of the junk you surround yourself with, all of the stuff that you carry around with you, it all begins to feel like chains. That's a problem. So what brings us to this place help country for me, there's got to be at least a dozen roads leading into this place, some of them softer than others. Most have caused me some bruising of some sort or another To compound the problem. The economic meltdown of 2008 along with family disconnect hit me Square in the nose, dragging all my plans and security down to the ground. So I find myself living in a story. I didn't want the same story. I discovered others were living, you know it, you know the gig. It's life plagued with stress, headaches and a car littered with fast food wrappers. In a world that is constantly pushing for bigger and faster. And I was looking for something smaller, slower, simple and real as a kid, I used to wander these hills matching my footsteps inside of my father's footprint. Weekend after weekend, year after year, we watched the elk slowly mesh into the landscape. So what is L country for many of us, these hills are our home for me. The course begins at the end of my driveway. I have walked these ridges throughout the best and worst days of my life for all the happiness. I've wondered these woods searching for hope when there seems to be none left in the world. It's hard to describe the peace that accompanies the serenity of this region. It's hard to describe the feeling of leaning against an old pine and hearing a distant elk bugle. What it's like to have a fawn still in spots walk up because it's too young to be afraid. I watched these hills change over my lifetime and mostly for the better. I watched old clear cuts and strip mines, returned a young forest. I've witnessed elk and other wild populations increase. I'll be the first to admit that one of my first loves where these hills, these hills and the elk that inhabit them have much to teach us. If you listen closely, you can almost hear them despite our scars. We grow, we change, We mature, we move forward. I think we would do well to pay attention like the forest, the elk that inhabit this land. We discover we are capable of enduring much, which makes us capable of achieving much more than we ever thought possible. Like our elk. We come to realize despite our scars, we grow, we change, We mature, we move forward, but we have to be willing to play the long game. We have to be willing to sweat work, stay the course that is now in front of us. Happy hunting.