Where is the fight for Freedom?

I think of the soldiery fighting for freedom and I picture in my head an army of the finest-equipped soldiers, the most awesome fighting force on the planet, simply obliterating an enemy that could barely put up a fight against them. I think of vast industrial and technological might crushing those that barely habe modern equipment of their own. These days, the cry to fight for freedom is more often than not being greeted by a sneer, or snide of contempt and the cliche'd thought of it all.

Maybe for people who are fighting amongst those superior, powerful, and supposed freedom-championing factions might still feel a connection to the word, but for me, my reaction to "fighting" for freedom is cynical at best.

And how can I not be? Given past examples, historical texts as well as contemporary re-enactments of those texts, have always shown that more often than not the aggressor, is the enemy of freedom. Today however, the aggressors fight for freedom? I just can't reconcile with the notion. As such I become a paradox.

These days, I loathe to hear American military efforts being hailed as a fight for freedom. It is cliche'd and for me utterly corrupts and tarnishes what the word once meant. But at the same time. I love the tales of the fight for freedom; but not as how it is being played in this modern age. I harken back to a time, when people fight for freedom against overwhelming odds for what they truly believe is just. Today, a just cause is usually the cover story for a cause that lies in the same bedsheets as greed, power and dominance. I so enjoy the tale of freedom fighters triumphant againts odds that were borderline impossible, but for which they kept fighting because they would rather die than lose their freedom. I believe that, having my own miniature fight for freedom, there are areas in which there is no reconcialliation with my far more conservative family members who view my somewhat free lifestyle with contempt, but I will not trade such freedom back. I would sooner die.

There was a time when the fight for freedom was not a cliche'. It was not a scam. It was genuinely a positive ideology, cause and state of being. Freedom almost always is a fight against aggressors who invades upon your own life and freedom. I cannot view the attacks by the Americans these days as such because they are fighting an opponent far inferior to them and imposing their brand of ideology on others. Democracy maybe hailed as good, as despite my misgivings towards democracy, I see its merits. But the fundamental fight for freedom is not about imposing a democratic rule on a people, as said people must instead choose for themselves the rule of democracy. Toppling a dictatorship may sound good and nice, but I don't think it's all that fair to impose and influence what goes on with the people there with your own brand of ideology. The people have to make up their own mind, for good or ill.

That for me is freedom.

"In the Year of our Lord 1314, patriots of Scotland - starving and outnumbered - charged the fields of Bannockburn. They fought like warrior poets; they fought like Scotsmen, and won their freedom" quote from the last lines in the 1995 movie, Braveheart.

This best examplifies my rather romanticized view of the fight for freedom.

I thought just now while having breakfast, how different it is today of how we view the rallying call for freedom, than when many years ago our forefathers were fighting for such a cause. I don't think that generally we take our freedoms for granted. Maybe some do, but the bigger issue for me is that how we misused the term these days.

Well, that's the thought...