Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-04-19
SPIRES or The SPIRIT
The Fetters of Freedom
By DIR. FREDERICK BROWN HARRIS
Chaplain Of the United States Senate

Freedom without letters Is
as dangerous as a high
powered car without brakes.
On any highway. wheels not
under control leave in their
wake damage. destruction
and death. In the modern
world Of wheels. with ire
mendous horsepower behind
each revolving circle. there
must be q skillful and dill
gent will in the drivers seat,
able to guide and, II neces-
sary, to stop any speeding
piece Of 20th-century mech
anism. Even with all the spec
flied restraints, abused free
dom brings yearly its terrible
toll Of manned and slaugh-
tered innocents and Of those
who pay the supreme penalty
as the result Of their own
foolhardiness In disregarding
the regulations which guard
safety.
And so 1t is with all exer-
else of freedom. Amid all the
determination of these days
to preserve liberties-amid all
the cries of I'VE want free
dom-hands of our free
DOM" the pungent question
is, Freedom for what?" AS
one has put it, after all there
is no particular virtue in
wanting freedom for itself.
Even a fish wants to be free
even freedom to take the
bait which will end its free
dom. Don't imagine you're a
noble breed just because you
want freedom. Always the
question fronts one or a
group or a whole people
shouting for freedom, what
do you want to do with it?"
Are you ready to accept its
inevitable letters? And the
disciplines necessary to keep
It?
While democracy is alerted
in perilous times like these
against the slavery of regi-
mentation, it must also be
warned against the thral-
dom Of a liberty self1shly mis-
used. A perverted liberty may
become, as Whittier put it,
1.-THE prison of the SOUL"
And the name Of that prison
is license.
This is an hour for those
outside the Iron Curtain to
listen while our priced de-
mocracy looks Boosting free
men straight in the eye and
asks, What do you mean by
freedom?" What do you pro-
pose to do with it? Perhaps
you have no right to it. A
misnamed freedom standing
alone, put into the category
Of rights rather than respon-
sibilities, divorced from the
only things that give it
strength and luster, such as
justice, truth, loyalty, honor,
brotherhood. may be but an
instrument to degrade per-
sonality-to murder others or
even to commit spiritual sui
eide.
For those who use what
they think of as their free
dom to do as they please, to
shirk Self-discipline, and to
yield to self indulgence,
George Shaw makes one of
his characters say to a weak
willed woman who wanted
her liberty just to escape the
letters of freedom, Your
native language is the Ian
guage of Shakespeare and
Milton and the Bible; don't
sit there grooming like a
bilious pigeon" Whenever
amiable and well-meaning
people are left to handle their
own freedom Of choice what
happens so often is suggested
by the description a youth
gave of his uncle who raised
him. This is what that youth
in his late teens had to say
to a minister: ITO my uncle
Sundays were nice comfort
able days when you had a
late breakfast and took a
walk along the canal bank
while dinner was cooking and
then had a snooze in the
afternoon and high tea at,
o'clock" did your uncle
ever go to church," the
minister asked. ooh, when hi
felt like it. He seemed to
feel like it less and less as
he grew older. He used tC
say he'd attend regularly il
only Aunt Flo were a BIZ