Reflections, Revelations, and Rants

The entries to follow will be dated according to when they were added – with the most recent first.  An entry date may not necessarily indicate when the piece was actually written because it might have been pulled from a file of compositions written at some other time.  In those cases, I will indicate the “original” date whenever I am reasonably sure of it.

Tonie Ansel Toney

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FREEDOM

Monday, August 3, 2009

Probably my favorite line from a song lyric comes from Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee.”  It was first popularized by Roger Miller in his terrific 1969 rendition and quickly exploded exponentially  in popularity once Janis Joplin’s version was released.  Here is the line I refer too:

“Freedom’s just another word for “nothin’ left to lose.”

I’ll bet I think of that simple statement at least once a day.  I recalls memories of times when everything I owned would fit into my vehicle in this great country where I could drive anywhere within it without being stopped at the borders between states and bask in the beauty of so many of our natural wonders.  As late as 1976 I took a 15 week trip like that in my little car and lived on a dime.  Though I still had a job to return to and responsibilities, I had numerous occasions to feel reasonably free with no strict agendas to follow.

Now I have two homes – a big one in a peaceful wooded portion of North-Central Florida and a tiny one in a beautiful part of the North Carolina Blue Ridge, two vehicles, a small sailboat that is the source of great pleasure and very little grief, a relatively normal and happy family family life, an adequate retirement, and reasonably good health.  I have lots of “things.”

Realizing that and acknowledging my tendency to advocate “Freedom’s just another word for ‘nothin’ left to lose’ ” – I’m wondering:  Do people with virtually nothing advocate such a notion or is my suspicion correct – that the vast majority of people who promote the concept are people who have loads and loads of THINGS – people who have never been in a position to remotely know what it’s like to have “nothin’ left to lose?”