rkj (03/14/83)
A recent article discussed the difference between "freedom from" and "freedom to" pointing out that in the US we have the latter while many socialist societies concentrate on the former. That there is indeed a dif- ference is overlooked by the US media. My wife is from Poland, hardly competing for the "most freedom of the year" award, and while she shares most Americans contempt for the government and economic system imposed upon Eastern Europe, she does often miss certain "freedom froms" she enjoyed in Poland. The main "freedom from" she misses is freedom from fear of personal attack. While Eastern Europe lacks the political and economic freedoms we cherish in the US, my wife finds it extremely difficult to get used to the fear for personal safety she took for granted in Poland. While there are undoubtedly parts of Warsaw or Moscow that should be avoided after dark, they are few and far between. A woman can walk home after dark fearing only the occasional drunk or unwanted solicitations. Shopkeepers need fear only shoplifters, not armed bandits, and one's home really is secure (an illusion we had shattered two years ago after being awakened after midnight by a burglar who fortunately was not armed). My wife is not that adamantly opposed to citizens owning firearms (by the way, Switzerland, I understand, requires all men over 18 to own a firearm as part of maintaining a national militia much like the US maintained when our consti- tution was written). What she finds abominable is that with all the US propaganda glorifying "American justice", murderers, rapists, and armed robbers are out on the street with such light sentences. The American pandering of the criminal and refusal to institute a death penalty she finds very difficult to understand. While my own personal point of view undoubtedly comes through, I just wanted to share a different point of view of our society. Rick Janka