The Value Of Freedom: by George Edward Green III 10/17/97
On the night of July 16,1918 the last tzar of Russia, Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their five children were brutally murdered in secret by their Bolshevik captors. This past year Fox released the motion picture Anastasia, which portrays a "What If" scenario, based on legends of the survival of Anastasia, the 17 year old daughter of Nicholas II. While it is wonderful that this event is being given the attention it well deserves, it is important that we realize what really happened. There are no pretty happy dolls, or joyful comedic bats in the history of Russia. There is a sad story of a man grabbing for power and manipulating the discontent people of Russia. This even began some of the worst treachery in history; the tragedies that took place against the Russian people under the rule of VI Lenin, and Joseph Stalin.
Bartok the bat was quite right in the movie: This could only end in tears. While the acts that Germany committed against the Jews in World War II are some of the most heinous acts ever committed against the human race, there is at least something to be said for the fact that they at least weren't considered to be their own people. Where the Jews were viewed as a separate race, the people that died under Lenin, and Stalin were fellow country men. The same ones who are all supposed to work together for a mutual goal in the Marxist society Lenin supposedly strived for. The number of their own people that these two men brutally slaughtered during their reign is sickening.
While these acts are horrifying we cannot change them. We cannot help those of the original Russian government who were killed, or forced to leave and never return to their home. We cannot help the starving masses that died under Stalin. What we must do is remember. We must make sure that no one ever forgets what happened in that country, and is still happening in come countries around the world. We must remember the meaning of freedom.
Freedom is choice. Be it the choice of what OS your computer will run, or the choice to live, and worship as you please. Freedom is opportunity. The opportunity to better yourself, and pursue your own individual dreams. Freedom is fairness. Freedom is the right to compete on fair terms with your fellow countrymen, and not be stepped on. Freedom is an inalienable human right. This means that it cannot, or at least in an ideal society would not, be taken away. Freedom is not capitalism, though capitalism does embody certain ideals of freedom. Freedom is not gunning down twenty people in a subway. Freedom is the very root of common respect. Freedom is the agreement one makes to live in a society. The contract that one will not infringe on the freedom of one's neighbors, in return for the same courtesy, voluntarily accepting the recourse of one's government for failure to comply with that contract.
On July 16,1918, V. I. Lenin, and the Bolsheviks, made a crime against that freedom. The took away the freedom of innocent children, and those they had granted the right to rule them. In the name of bettering themselves, these men killed an innocent family. They took away their right to live, to learn, to love. They broke the contract. Things did not get better, and they have gotten progressively worse for those involved. The Russian people are not for the most part even given the freedom to choice a specific brand of food. In most cases they are likely if there is even any brand at all available. Capitalism will not change that. Mc Donald's, with 3000 Ruble cheeseburgers will not suddenly summon up freedom.
We are lucky in America(For those reading this from another country, I sincerely hope you are lucky as well.) we have a constitution. This outlines our rights, ideally ensuring our freedom. It also outlines our right to rebel, if it fails to do so. Yes. We have a right to rebel against a government that does not suit out needs. We DO NOT have the right to go about killing innocent girls! You will notice that when America declared its independence we merely sent a letter to our then ruler, England, informing them that they had lost the privilege of ruling us. Only when they sent an army over here to retain their privilege, did any killing begin. We then had to fight for our freedom, don't be so quick to assume that we may never again. America's government is very young, when compared to most others. Many far longer living governments ended in tyranny. We have laws that outline our right to freedom, and our right to protect it. I needn't outline them as there are several. It is imperative that we do not go about calling them outdated, or misguided. Because in less that a year you can find out how little time it takes for tyranny to rise. The Romanov family certainly did. The Russian people still have not recovered from that experience. They do not have most of the aspects of freedom that we take for granted. There are still incidences of people dropping by other people home, informing them that they now own it, and killing the owner upon disagreement.
Freedom cannot be attained through the disrespect for anyone's freedom. That only breeds tyranny. The lesson of the Romanovs is as important now as it was then. Don't take it as a joke. Don't say "but that will never happen to us". There are a few thousand AIDs patients who would like to talk to you about the "it will never happen to us" concept, it doesn't exactly work.
We can all do our part! For starters our lovely one country super cop could start putting some money where its mouth is. How much do you imagine we spent in the Persian Gulf war, protect our precious oil? How many starving Russians people could that help feed? We can do it on a local level. We can explain to our children the value of freedom. We can teach them why it is important that we don't call others names, or steal what they have. We live as a society so that everyone can prosper and, unlike the animals, we will not have to fight tooth and nail for every meal. That is what defines sentience. The ability to choose freedom over chaos.
Go and watch Fox's Anastasia. Enjoy your time with your children. Buy them the dolls, the shoes, the lip balm, the story books, the toys. You are free to do so. And don't forget to teach them the value of that freedom. Maybe when they are old enough to understand you could tell them the story of a seventeen year old princess, who once climbed trees happily in her fathers garden, but died in a basement at the hands of armed soldiers. No, Anastasia, and her grandmother never were together in Paris, but if we can all remember why then maybe we will never have to hear another tragic story.
The Pictures here come from the page The Romanov Execution. Please stop by for a more detailed account of this tragedy. Click HERE
