American Heritage is a huge part of my life. and I want everyone who knows me to know why. so I'm setting a goal to give a weekly post of something taught in American Heritage that week. yesterday in my labs I taught about the Puritans and civil liberty.
in "On Liberty," John Winthrop (Puritan Mayflower man and Mass. Bay governor) defines 2 kinds of liberty:
1. natural liberty--the freedom to do as you choose: good or evil.
2. civil liberty--the freedom to do good.
the importance of this today, is that we encounter both kinds. yes, all choices have consequences. but you do have the natural liberty--the freedom to go 90 mph on I-15 today (probably without getting a ticket). and you do have the freedom to sit on your couch watching L&O until the sun goes down. you can do whatever you want. it's a free country. right?
but all of us have spheres of civil liberty. just a week ago Tuesday, President Obama said we all need to rise to the call and pay the price of citizenship--we are all responsible for each other's plight. at BYU, the Honor Code acts as a form of civil liberty. of course there is always the option to do good or bad at BYU (and people definitely do both!), but the consequences are more immediate. so the only real choice is the choice to do good.
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