Henry's Farm

Henry had a small farm which he inherited from his father. His father had inherited it from his father before him, and indeed it had been in the family for generations. Of course, being a farm, simply owning it did not mean that it produced crops without work and maintenance. Henry's ancestors had worked hard to buy the farm, had worked hard to clear the land, take out the rocks, build and maintain the structures and fences, and keep the farm in good order when it was passed on to Henry.Sure, it was not perfect when Henry got it, but it was a nice farm. Henry worked fairly hard, but not as hard as he needed to to make the farm produce. He slacked off from what his forebears had done, let the weeds grow, let the fences go, let the ditches get clogged. Worst of all, he borrowed against the farm to buy things he really could not afford, supposing that tomorrow would pay for them.Sadly, Henry could not make the payments (especially with his slacker ways) and he lost the farm when the bank foreclosed on it.Henry was sad. He felt badly that he had lost what his ancestors had sacrificed so hard to get. He determined that he would buy that farm back.So he changed his ways, worked hard, sacrificed and struggled, slaved and scrimped, until finally, he was able to buy back that farm that his forefathers had struggled to build and had left him so long ago.The only thing was that the years of toil and struggle had taken their toll, and soon after he bought the farm, he "bought the farm," as we say, and died. As he gathered his children around him, he told them,"I have struggled and sacrificed to have this to leave you. Now that you have it, it is so much easier to keep it than it is to win it back after you have lost it. Trust me, I know."Our forefathers struggled and sacrificed, fought and died, to pass us this farm we call FREEDOM. They worked and sacrificed to maintain it and pass it on to us. If we are slackers, let it go, and finally give it away for a few tacky luxuries, what is it going to cost us to buy it back?