Another thought on the "Farmer Boy" excerpt

One more thought on the "Farmer Boy" excerpt from two posts ago. Somewhere along the line, the desire for simple freedom that brought many immigrants to this country has been replaced with the "American Dream" of economic opportunity. The former is far nobler than the latter. I suspect a connection between this phenomenon and the decision to leave the farm. Freedom is best realized and experienced as the "free and independent" farmer Mr. and Mrs. Wilder describe. As our economy has changed to one based on shopping and excess, we've done nothing less than trade our freedom for bondage.