Appreciating Our Freedom

I used to view everything that happened BEFORE I was born as ANCIENT HISTORY, and of little interest to me... But the older I get, the less distant ANCIENT HISTORY seems. I have, after all, lived for more than half a century. And in my mind (now) that really doesn't seem like such a long time!

That may be why I have become more interested in history than ever before - it seems less distant than it once did. And rather than view history as something that happened LONG, LONG AGO, I am now often amazed at how much has changed in so little time!

I think of rights I so often take for granted - like the right of women in Canada to vote. That law was passed in my mother's lifetime... in the past 90 years.

The right to free public education in Canada probably dates back to around the same time. I say, in Canada, because I know, from speaking with immigrants and refugees from all over the world, that some countries still do not give children a free education - or women the right to vote.

When I started to teach (in a British school) at the age of 22... (not that long ago...) women were paid according to a different salary scale than men, who were paid more for doing the same job! In fact, I can remember when the law guaranteeing women equal pay for equal work was passed in Canada, not that many years ago.

So when I read (as I did this morning) about the history of Biblical translation into English, I am shocked and amazed that we have had the FREEDOM to read the Bible in our own language for only about 400 years! (Four of my mother's lifetimes...) Previous to that, only Greek and Latin scholars could read it ... and many other ancient writings. In 1536 (less than 500 years ago), William Tyndale was burned at stake for translating the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament into English...

I wonder if we truly appreciate how far we have come - and the struggles so many had to endure - to get us the FREEDOMS we enjoy today...