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Freedom of Choice is a wonderful thing....

....and it gives us the ability to do or say pretty much what we want. For example, if I want to dress in drag and go out in the morning I can. Now that does not mean I will ever get elected to public office, but it does mean, I have a right to do it. There is a difference between having the freedom to do something and bearing the consequences of actually doing it. Responsible citizenship, basically limits what I can or cannot do.

For example, I will not do certain things like say smoke a cigarette, talk on my mobile phone and try to eat a sandwich I picked up at a wawa while driving on the freeway at somewhere around 70 miles per hour. You use freedom too creatively and you just may win a Darwin award where people actually thank you for removing yourself from the gene pool. My favorite line : "Alcohol and snowmobiles are a dangerous mix. Then came the rabbit....." Check it out for yourself here....http://www.darwinawards.com/

In Turkey however, it could happen that if I am a woman who does wear a headscarf there can be a problem,"For many Turks, the headscarf matter has come to represent a critical struggle over the future direction of the country. "With sensitive handling, this headscarf issue might just have faded away," says sociologist Ayse Oncu. "Now solving it looks almost impossible."

As the Constitutional Court considers the case, the country’s top administrative court, known as the Danistay, has erected a significant legal hurdle to the move, ruling March 11 that the Higher Education Authority did not have the power to order the acceptance of headscarves on university campuses."

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav031208.shtml

Wouldn't be a much nicer world if people got to dress however they want without judgement? Our ability to tolerate non-violent behavior we may not approve of or understand should be limited only by our ability to do our work well, practice our art, or help one another.

Toleration is a good goal, but freedom of speech and individual rights are a blessing. I will never tell you you cannot wear a headscarf if you want to do so, and conversely if you do not want to, that is just fine with me. As long as we practice toleration for one another, there will never be a conflict.

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