• Believe what you want to believe.
• Live wherever you want and how you want to live.
• Choose a calling and make that your life’s work.
• Start a family, whether you’re mature enough or financially able.
• Buy a ridiculously expensive car, and then spend years paying it off.
• Worship God in the faith of your choosing — or not to believe in religion at all.
• Get a free public education and chase your dreams.
• Start a business.
• Play the lottery —and stand a better chance of being hit by lightning.
• Join a club.
• Complain to your boss.
• Have a favorite hobby or two.
• Watch your children graduate from high school or college.
• Eat or drink too much — and suffer the results.
• Smoke. (See above results.)
• Call Sound Off or write a letter to the editor and express your opinions.
• Volunteer your talents.
• Listen to good music. (Or bad music, if you prefer.)
• Drive fast — and be able to pay the speeding tickets.
• Plant a garden and watch something grow.
• Play video games over the Internet with players all over the country.
• Exercise regularly and maintain good health. Or not.
• Have a hero.
• Commit a crime and face the music.
• Ride a motorcycle.
• Enjoy a good meal.
• Play sports or watch others play sports.
• Find out on your own that your mother was right.
• Dress the way you’re most comfortable.
• Watch TV or go outside.
• Own a pet — or vice versa.
• Jump out of an airplane.
• Gamble.
• Sing a song. Dance.
• Decide whether you love your country.
• Never pick up a book again — but we hope you will.
• Own a gun. (Please be responsible.)
• See some fireworks.
• Root for the Reds and Bengals season after season — and hope this is the year.
• Make mistakes — big and small.
• Go see a movie.
• Ensure that loved ones die with dignity and respect.
• Fall in love.
• Put a bumper sticker on your car.
• Vote.
It’s all about making choices — but choose wisely. Being free comes with the responsibility to give your best and to do the right thing by your loved ones and friends. Being free, after all, has consequences.
And freedom isn’t cheap. Visit Arlington National Cemetery — or the nearby graves of any soldiers who were killed in the service of this unique nation — to find the price tag for all these freedoms and many more.
Spend a little time today, thinking about and appreciating the freedoms you enjoy. We hope you have a wonderful Independence Day.