Imagine a cattle drive. A handful of cowboys slowly guides hundreds of cows across the west Texas plain. The sun is hot and the ground is dry. Every step by every hoof of cow and horse raises a cloud of dust. In vain the cowboys cover their faces with bandannas and the animals blink. Dust seeps into clothes and eyes and mouths and throats. And the summer sun beats down. Even without a thermometer to tell them that the temperature is near 105º, the cowboys know it’s especially hot. Nowhere on the desert is there shade for a man, much less a horse. Worst of all is the thirst. Even with the heat and the dust, the cowboys dare not slake their throats. The water must be rationed.
Suddenly, as the drive crests a low hill, the herd picks up its pace. Jake, the trail boss sees the pond ahead, yells to the cowboys and spurs his horse. As the cattle start trotting toward the water, the cowboys race their horses and work frenetically – to keep them away from the pond. This is an alkaline pond. Jake had warned about them before the drive began. Anything that drinks from it -- whether man or beast – will die. So, the cowboys work hard. Half an hour later the drive is past the danger. Only a dozen cows were lost. Covered with sweat and twice as thirsty, the men and horses press on.
The point of the story is freedom. As soon as they sensed water, the cows headed for it. Their bodies needed water and they went to get it. The men were just as thirsty. Their bodies craved water, too. But they did exactly what made their thirst worse. They worked harder. The men had something that the cows didn’t: knowledge and the power to understand. Jake, the boss, had seen a man die of alkaline poisoning. He knew from experience. Greenhorn Gabe was new to the trail, but he had some book-learning. He had read once that very smart people out East called alkali a poison. Both men had something in their heads -- knowledge about the truth -- that let them ignore their throats and their bellies. It was something the cows and the horses lacked.
Knowledge makes us free. Cows and horses and other animals have only their instincts to go on. When a hungry jaguar sees a gazelle, she doesn’t need to think about what to do. Her instincts dictate that she stalk and kill. However, when the hunter sees that same gazelle, his knowledge gives him a choice. He may consider that the gazelle is protected under the law. He might notice that she has calf that will need her. (The jaguar, of course, would try to kill the calf.) He may even remember his doctor’s warnings about too much meat and forego killing any animal. The jaguar would not even recognize texturized soy product as food.
By our power to reason we can envision the future. Jake and Greenhorn Gabe envisioned a future where they were dead and so chose not to drink the water. This power makes us responsible. In other words, instincts and urges do not excuse our actions. We often hear how unrealistic it is to expect teenagers to be chaste. This is the ‘90s, after all. Kids are sophisticated. But sophistication means being guided by reason, not bodily urges. If our job as adults is to help young people be free, then we must help them look forward and control those urges. If we are to be free and responsible adults, then we cannot excuse our own imprudence.
This doesn’t mean we have to be calculating to be free. Those who calculate too much can stifle their freedom. It means that we must think realistically. It means that we learn from others and our own experience what to expect. Freedom is a matter of having a vision -- a vision for oneself, the children, our country. Freedom is a matter of rational self-control to bring that vision about. To be free is to know what is really good and what gets in the way of the realistic vision. Jake knew that the pond water would ruin his vision of delivering cattle to market. In fact, it would make him dead. Good as the wine is, I know that a third glass will impair my guest’s driving judgment. Because I am rational and can envision a good party, I can brew cappuccinos.
What this means is that we are not slaves to instinct and blind urges. We are as free as our imaginations and our vision can make us -- provided that our freedom is limited by truth. Those cowboys knew the truth about alkali that limited their actions but freed them from death. If we let the truth limit our acts, then we are free concerning everything else.
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