Freedom

It’s more than just another word, as Janis Joplin sang in Bobby McGee. It’s responsibility as well.

 During 2020 and into 2021, we’ve read and heard a great deal about freedom and people’s perception of it. Oddly enough, as we look back on 2020 and life during the pandemic, there were freedoms to be enjoyed while working from home. Consider:

• The freedom of sitting in traffic during daily commutes.

• The freedom to wear comfortable clothing during the workday.

• The freedom of flexible work schedules.

• The freedom to get household chores accomplished anytime.

No, it wasn’t perfect, especially parents juggling work, and children learning from home. But they did have the freedom to hug their kids anytime during the “work day.” As organizations contemplate bringing workers back into offices, workers are contemplating if they want to return—at least on a regular, five-day a week basis.

Employees have to consider the responsibilities of working from home, full- or part-time, in the long run, especially when the colleagues with whom they interact are in the workplace. The freedom of flexibility requires the responsibility of being available to other team members.   

At the same time, Americans are celebrating new freedoms as the virus comes under control. With those freedoms come responsibility. For example, becoming fully vaccinated (the responsibility) provides the freedom to:

• choose to discard the mask.   

• congregate.

• relax social distancing, while still being respectful of other people’s personal space.

We celebrate the Fourth of July this Sunday, a celebration of our country’s Independence and the freedoms granted us under the Constitution’s First Amendment. 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Understand the freedoms we enjoy as individuals and as a nation. You can learn more about the First Amendment from the National Constitution Center. https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution 

As we celebrate July 4th this year, let’s reflect on our freedoms and commit to make a difference so all Americans can equally enjoy them.