Entry 53. The exception or the rule

Freedom not being a topic the Earthian government has much use for, I imagine those last three entries did not go over well on our beloved “home planet.”

Let me be clear: There’s a good reason I put “home planet” between quotation marks. I was born on Sirius 4 and consider this my home planet. I owe Earth no allegiance, nor do I expect anything of Earth except that you let me go my way unimpeded. And more important, if Earthians are content with their system, it is none of my business as long as they no longer attempt to impose it on our planet.

Back to the story of my life.

I suspect those who view Sirius 4 as a special case may have a good point. The independent pioneer spirit of so many of our planet’s people may not be unique in the universe, but it certainly is unusual.

The mentality that drove thousands to emigrate from Earth and seek a place where you can make your own decisions and take responsibility for your own life takes a special kind of person. Such people chafe among those comfortable with being told how to behave and expecting that government meet their every need.

By the time I was born, a number of generations had passed, but they had passed the value of independence and autonomy to their children, along with the sense that we are responsible for our own lives and choices. The planet remained largely untamed, as well, in the sense that people had to build their own lives to be secure. As much as some in government and other far-away venues might want to believe otherwise, if we wanted a certain life we had to make it ourselves, with the help of family, neighbors and friends. By the time we severed our formal ties to the Earthian rulers’ whims, we were quite ready to make our own lives with neither help nor interference from “above.”

The first century and a quarter before the key events of my lifetime, then, were a setting of the stage. In another land, in another world, with another set of pioneers, perhaps our commonwealth might be impossible. Perhaps.

But you will likely never convince me that the instinct to be free, the heady thrill of living the life you created out of your own passion, is not a universal instinct. As I said yesterday and the day before, Sirians and Earthians have the same root genes. We can’t be so very different.

Entry 54