Have you ever seen black and white photos from olden days? The era of the white picket fence; men dressed in alike suit, women with cookie cutter fashion and hairstyle, houses and neighborhoods worthy of HOA magazines! I bet you can find photos of people filing into factories in straight lines, punching the clock one at a time. Society had a uniformity. There was etiquette to instruct individuals how to fit in.

There is a phrase with power and command; fit in. It is such a powerful ideology that anyone who would dare defy it would be labeled an outcast. This manufactured reality defined what a family looked like, the roles that men and women played in the family and society at large, and gave shape to a new world in the 19th century. New idols of wealth and power became gods which many sacrificed their lives to serve.

There are many accounts throughout human history of which people being boxed into predefined ideals lead to dismembering of those social constructs. Defining changes to society have risen up from the destruction of those mental walls. Here in the United States, our country exists due to people escaping control for independence. The 20th century was also marked by many significant social changes that granted freedoms and liberties in new ways.

Social change bares consequence; morally, ethically, and tangibly. Good and bad are never far apart. Just like light and dark are not evident without each other. The liberties we are blessed to behold have transformed society in ways both big and small. Some change happens gradually by accumulation and some shifts are imposed with great force. A basic principle of liberty is: live and let live. It flows in the same current as: do no harm. Maybe it is the changes of loosening of confines that have done the most good for individuality and personal progress. I believe what we are seeing in this moment of history is a reversal of the loosening of liberty. Rather, it is a gathering for the purpose of power; collectivism only moves social ideals forward by removing individual freedom.

Respect is greater than tolerance. Opportunity offers more than equality. Humanity’s strength is in the contribution of our differences and the unity of our mutual good by individual means.