i heard a beautiful quote/sound-clip on the stereo system while at chance of rain cafe. i looked up more of the quote and found this.

"We have enormous freedom. That's not a gift that was given to us, it's a legacy that was left to us by centuries of struggle. By centuries of people that most of whose names are completely forgotten, the ones who created the freedom and the rights we now have, and that will be taken away unless you constantly defend them." - Noam Chomsky

freedom is not a gift or an inalienable right or any of that handwavey stuff. its something we looked up to our feudal lords and grew enough to understand life is better with personal autonomy. thats all. its simply better than what we had before.