What is Liber you ask?

Liber is not a word common to our modern language, but it used to be. To help explain it, I will share with you some excerpts from an article by Oliver DeMille. The full article is here http://newsletter.gw.edu/pre/august2000.pdf and definitely worth the read.

“Liber is the Latin word for tree or tree bark.” Tree bark was used for paper. The word Liber became “associated with those who could read, write, and engage in contract.” “In classical Greece and Rome, there were two classes of people: slaves and Liber.” “The fundamental difference between slaves and Liber was freedom. Liber is the rood word for Liberty, book, libro, and library.”
“Liberty is the state of being Liber. Liberty is not just the absence of bondage, but the fitness of the individual to act as a citizen.”
“Liber is also the root of the phrase ‘liberal arts’, such as in liberal arts colleges. Liberal arts are the knowledge and skills necessary to remain free.” “For the founders those liberal arts were the arts of reading the classics and thinking clearly and independently.” Not just the founding fathers, but the founding generation was Liber. “These regular farmers and housewives read and hotly debated the Federalist Papers in New York in 1789.”
“History has proven that Freedom is not free. It must be earned. And one of the ways the Founding generation earned it was in becoming Liber: getting the kind of education required to remain free. And by education they didn’t mean diplomas or degrees, but knowledge gained from reading the classics of history, law, government, and the arts.

I do not feel that I am yet Liber, but I aspire to be. So this is my journey; my small steps to become Liber. I want to be worthy of the freedom I inherited, and have the wisdom to keep it.