"If we could not choose, we would be things, not persons." These are the words of W. D. Weatherford, former head of the Department of Religion and Humanities at Fisk University. But we can choose, and we are persons.

Recently, I came across poignant statements (one by E. Stanley Jones and the other by Everett Tilson) that, in almost identical language, affirm a basic fact of life. We have freedom to choose, but we do not have freedom to choose the consequences of our choices. The results of our choosing, said E. Stanley Jones, "seem to be in hands not our own." Therefore, Wallace C. Spears was right when he wrote that real freedom is "the ability to make intelligent choices."

Few have understood this underlying principle of human conduct more clearly than 56 freedom-loving men in colonial American. Because they opposed tyranny in any form and desired freedom to exercise certain fundamental rights, they mutually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Then they signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Had the cause to which they were so ardently devoted failed, those strong-minded men understood quite well what would happen to them. The British authorities they were defying would consider them traitors, charge them with treason, and sentence them to death for their revolutionary actions. But they were willing to take that risk for the cause of freedom.

The cause they espoused did not fail, and the American Revolution was a success. Those men who risked their lives by signing the Declaration of Independence became true patriots in the eyes of their fellow countrymen who also cherished freedom and were willing to put their lives on the line for it. That famous document those courageous men signed, sometimes called "the best- known and noblest of American papers," not only broke colonial ties to England but also became the foundation of a new nation. It then became a charter of liberty and a beacon of hope for all people everywhere who love freedom and strive for it.

At a time when some seem to think freedom is nothing more than the absence of restraints, remembering those courageous men who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the risk they took for freedom's sake should be a reminder of another basic principle that underlies freedom. Carl Sandburg, one of the deans of American poetry, expressed it best when he wrote, "Hand and hand with freedom goes responsibility." If true freedom is to prevail and our cherished heritage is to be preserved, citizens must be willing not only to claim their rights but also to assume their responsibilities.

W. Howard Coop is a retired United Methodist Minister and has been a Mason since 1952. He is a Past Master of Lancaster Lodge No. 104, currently serving as Chaplain and member of W. R. Selby, Sr., Chapter 4, Danville, Kentucky, and the Scottish Rite Bodies of Louisville, Kentucky.