We Get What We Get

Today, dressed in festive green, I feel lucky. Not because of the holiday today, but because I am surrounded by thinkers. VW brought up in an earlier post what freedom means to us individually, in The Neighborhood, the community, in our country, and in the world. I've been thinking about this. After reading Lorraine's recent post on freedom, I took pause.

This is where my mind is taking me today.

"You get what you get, so don't throw a fit!" This quote is courtesy of Winnie the Pooh, I believe and I hear it regularly in the kindergarten classroom where I work when birthday treats are passed out by the birthday child. The children have taken this quote to heart, so there's no squabbling over cupcake frosting colors, decorative napkins, and party favors (e.g. "I want the pink one! "I want the napkin with the purple balloon!" and so it goes).

However, when I was thinking of that quote today, that yes, we "get what we get" but we don't need the warning about the "fit." And I am not talking competing for baked goods. There are so many things that we can do with what "we get." We can acknowledge, accept, and still persevere. We can work for change, fight injustice, advocate for ourselves and others. We can beautifully root ourselves into our communities and in our lives or we can explore, brilliantly wander, and learn. To me, this is freedom. And you know, I think it's okay to throw a fit once and a while when we get what we get. It keeps us alive and free! Freedom is to craft our lives in any direction we choose, regardless of what we ended up with in the first place.