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\u201cThose who won our independence believed that the final end of the State was to make men free to develop their faculties\u201d (Justice Louis Brandeis).<\/p>\n
FREEDOM IS NOT GIVEN TO US FOR SELFISH INDULGENCE; IT\u2019S MEANT TO BE USED IN REACHING OUR POTENTIAL. This is as true of our civil liberties as it is of those that are more personal in nature. Even the laws and regulations under which we live are for the purpose of creating conditions in which we can flourish and \u201cdevelop [our] faculties,\u201d as Brandeis put it. Not many people realize that\u2019s what freedom is for, and many who know it don\u2019t take full advantage of it, but freedom is meant to help us grow<\/em>. It\u2019s not about doing whatever we want; it\u2019s about becoming all we\u2019re capable of.<\/p>\n There is a sense in which human lives have to be \u201cunfolded\u201d or \u201cunpacked.\u201d They don\u2019t come already put together, and to say (as the label always tells you when you\u2019re in a hurry) that \u201csome assembly is required\u201d is a considerable understatement. So \u201cdevelopment\u201d is the word we often use to describe what has to happen if a person\u2019s character is going to become all it\u2019s capable of being. It\u2019s as if many things are wrapped up in us that have to be unpacked.<\/p>\n Like many worthwhile things, the development of character takes time. It\u2019s not work that can be done in a day. In fact, when we look at it properly, we recognize that it\u2019s a lifelong process.<\/em> No matter how long we live, our character still needs some development.<\/p>\n But haven\u2019t we all seen a tendency in our lives to stop developing? Indeed, avoiding stagnation is one of the primary challenges we face as we grow older. It takes extraordinary commitment and discipline to keep on developing as long as we\u2019re in this world.<\/p>\n Serious issues are at stake, however. The choice that confronts us is, as someone has said, \u201cDevelop or die.\u201d Our endowments are wonderful. Our resources are abundant. Our potential is so vast that it seems unlimited. But none of these things can be neglected without frightful consequences later on. If there\u2019s a law that\u2019s clearly written on every page of nature\u2019s book, it is this: use it or lose it.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIn every animal . . . a more frequent and continuous use of any organ gradually strengthens, develops, and enlarges that organ . . . while the permanent disuse of any organ imperceptibly weakens and deteriorates it, and progressively diminishes its functional capacity, until it finally disappears\u201d (Jean-Baptiste Lamarck).<\/p>\n Gary Henry \u2013 WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com<\/p>\n