Aretha Franklin was not the first person to say these words but her voice echoes in my head today, “Freedom, freedom.” Jake and Elway the Blues Brothers were very popular when I was in elementary school. Once they did a seen with Aretha Franklin at a soul food restaurant on Maxwell Street in Chicago. Those were the days Maxwell Street was an open market every Sunday morning. You could buy or sell anything there and I mean anything. In the movie Aretha Franklin played the part of a waitress married to one of Jake and Elway’s old band members. They were getting the band together. It was “a mission from God.”But that would leave Aretha to slave over the restaurant while her sweet honey goes to join the boys getting the band back together. Aretha will not just sit back. She stands upand belts out one of her most powerful songs. Can see her singing and dancing with the Blues Brothers?
“You better think (think)
Think about what you’re trying to do to me
Think (think, think)
Let your mind go, let yourself be free
Oh, freedom (freedom), freedom (freedom)
Oh, freedom, yeah, freedom (freedom)
Freedom, oh freedom”
We write considering the paradox of life. As Newtons states, “every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Why am I singing, “freedom, oh freedom!” I wouldn’t know what freedom was unless I had been oppressed. For how can Aretha sing, Freedom, oh freedom” when her honey is walking out the door leaving her responsible for the restaurant? Her song of freedom does not come from celebrating her outward circumstances but it is the inner cry of the soul, “Freedom!” For me I like to write and I like to share on Steemit. If people read my posts and are like something I wrote I am encouraged to write more. For me freedom is to work within my responsibilities. I loved writing for Steemit so much and following the community I neglected quality time with some important people I love. In the new year I resolve not to text at home in front of the kids or write on the blog when it is there time I resolve to read them a story every day. How can I still keep up with this blog and a full time job and kids? I set up an account with Steemian and will write my posts early and then they will be published at the exact time I scheduled for them to go out. I will use steemfollower to upvote the posts of friends I know I want to upvote. Smart time really is freedom. Accepting responsibility is freedom. For me this means to fully take up my responsibility as a father being with the kids and talking to them and reading with them. And without truth there is no responsibility. If I am true to my wife and kids and give them the time they need then I am free to write and continue in this Steemit community. You are great people. Wish me the best. And I wish you the best for this new year.
Love,
365GROOVY
Happy New Year