Who is my brother?

Who is my sister?

The tie that binds us all together is an awareness of combined interest.

That interest centers upon the knowledge that if you are free, so am I.

And to tell you the truth, we who fight for freedom are not the only ones who recognize the fact of this freedom.

The power brokers, the aristocrat, the king, the prince, the tyrant, the President, the crime boss, knows this truth also.

That's why the tyrannical spend so much of their time and effort fighting against freedom.

You see a free people a free person is not afraid.

Fear is the enemy of free people.

Fear is used to find the cracks in the resilient nature of free people.

Fear loves to sew the seeds of doubt, of anxiety into society.

Fear will break apart the strongest alliance.

Fear will destroy a community, a society, the individual.

We can never allow fear to govern who we are to become fools to cower and capitulate to bullies.

To fight for my neighbor.

The concept of standing up for what is right, to stand with, and for those who can and cannot stand for themselves is not inherent in our human nature.

The self, the ego governs our actions.

It dictates to us to preserve ourselves at all costs.

Compassion is learned.

Caring for others is passed down through traditions as well as personal human interactions.

I was hungry, and you fed me.

I was lost, and you found me.

I was under attack, and you defended me.

I was sick, and you cared for me.

The act of stepping out of one's own ego into the realm of compassion for others is the core of what it means to be superhuman.

When you take the time out of your day to go vote, you are exercising your superhuman powers, your empathy, by demonstrating your compassion for your community.

The knowledge that freedom is the essential wellspring for all society is why we fight for our neighbor.

I give my vote so you, too, can live a better life.

I pay my taxes so we all can drink clean water.

I drive defensively because your life is meaningful too.

Agreed upon norms of society.

I will fight those who oppose your freedom to live a good life too.

Anger at the world is fertile ground into which fear plants seeds of hate.

There is no doubt that anger, hate, fear has a profit.

The merchants of arms sales, drug sales, human trafficking, gambling, the energy industry all profit greatly through the use and destruction of human lives.

Many of them have great PR and marketing stories that keep the prying eyes of the average citizen from asking too many questions about how they make their profit.

It is why holy hell rains down upon anyone who dares question the merchants of fear by defying them and calling out their toadies and industries.

They don't want the apple cart, their access to unlimited profit, their feeding at the hog trough of human destruction to end.

So when someone stands and says I will fight for my neighbor, it is why ridicule is heaped upon them.

To fight for my neighbor.

Today, Rep. Elijah Cummings from Baltimore, the son of a sharecropper, passed from the earth.

Elijah stood in the doorway and told fear to back off.

He got up every day joyful to join the fight for freedom and justice.

Like so many before him, he too has passed the torch to each of us.

The fight is eternal, but also real is the promise of love.

Pick up that light and fight for your neighbor.

Peace

DFrey