The right to speak freely and express oneself is not just an American right, or a Western civilization right , but a human and ape right ,as natural as any other granted by creation to man or beast. It is probably the most significant freedom and right any person or country can substantiate .
Many a people across the world are not granted that right by their leaders , governments or cultural conditioning,
Nor do they have the power , strength and resources to summarily cease those rights for themselves.
Our right to speak out is probably our most sacrosanct right. Not just granted to us via our respective constitutions and charters , but codified only by our willingness to exercise , assert and continuously fight for that right.
Only by retaining the right to speak our truth to power, demand accountability and transparency and challenge both cultural and conventional wisdoms, can we grow , evolve and adapt to the changing political and environmental tides that are washing up on our shore and flooding our lives.
The perimeters of freedom of expression extend endlessly and necessarily will encompass the peripheral and profane, as well as the most malicious and puerile intentions.
Only through this spectrum of expression , discussion and self discovery can we get gradually closer to finding the truth of ourselves, and understand the complexity and preciousness of our existence, ultimately that we are a free expression of our evolution on this earth and our place in the universe.
We still have much to say about how that story will be written, Whether or not we get closer to the truth of ourselves might be dependent upon the spectrum of perspectives we can consider or tolerate.
We cannot possibly get closer to the right answers at if we cannot bear to entertain or acknowledge the wrong ones. Our potential for becoming gradually less wrong increases with every wrong answer we discover and allow to be expressed.
Keep on swinging, peace and bananas.
Dustin Micheli