My uncle died with his name at the bottom of a list; his name was Robert Walker. Uncle Bob had worked his whole life to move up the ranks to become a cardiovascular surgeon. But when he arrived to the top, he was unsatisfied; he wanted to take a step even further. To fill the hole of discontent, he and a few of his fellow colleagues created a whole new medical procedure called a heart bypass surgery. In simple terms, a heart bypass surgery entails taking healthy blood vessels from a different part of the body to repair damaged heart arteries. This type of procedure is given to people who suffer from heart failure. Now fast forward a few years and Uncle Bob is now seventy-eight and living in Canada. He was admitted to the hospital late one …show more content…
Canadian government includes socialized medicine, which means that would have to wait his turn to get the services. Sadly, Uncle Bob’s heart was not able to wait another year for a surgery. Uncle Bob died with his name at the bottom of the heart bypass surgery list. Uncle Bob did not get to choose when he wanted his surgery or if he got the surgery that he invented. He lived his last year of life in fear of death. However, according to society the way Uncle Bob’s situation was handled was fair. The government was the great equalizer. Just like every other person in Canada, Uncle Bob had to wait his turn to receive his service. However, fair does not necessarily mean free, but being free does mean agency to life choices, benefits from personal labor, and living a life without the constant companionship of …show more content…
In his “Inaugural Adress”, President John F. Kennedy testifies of freedom. In his definition of freedom, he describes a place “....where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved” (p. 20). Lawful government and a fearless life go hand in hand. To live a life without fear, it is necessary for good, just leaders who rule through compassion, security, and peacefulness. When authority uses fear, people force themselves to follow rather than face the consequences of following their conscience or making thier own decisions, eliminating freedom. As he continues on with his speech, President Kennedy pledges to “...where the instruments of war far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support - to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective” (p. 11). Victims of war are usually innocent citizens who are withheld from freedom, and bound with fear. When fear rules the brain, people make choices based fear, not on their own conscience or thinking, driving away the ability to live life to the fullest. Those who are subject to fear do not have the opprotunity to experience freedom because they are held down by anxeity and the concern of how their personal decisions can be