The only constant in life is change; as a child, this banality was a simple set of words that I had never really understood and which had little or no meaning to me. As an adult, this has become a truth that I have learned to understand and live by. In most cases, humans are powerless in the face of relentless progress and the nuances of change, yet we have the ability to drive it on many levels. Among the many changes in life, some personal freedoms fluctuate while others remain unchanged. As I became an adult and am now 40 years old, I have understood that no freedom afforded to an American citizen should be taken lightly. I am an avid voter and have been since I was 18. I value my right to own property; my home is my castle and I simply love it. More recently, I took the opportunity to get a college education; with the help of the government, through student loans and grants, paying for college is a feasible prospect. Even the seemingly menial duty of jury duty is a freedom I have never taken lightly or taken for granted. All of these freedoms are important to me and are my right as a citizen of the United States and I am infinitely grateful for them. As I hold those previously mentioned freedoms close to my person, there is one particular freedom that I have only recently been granted; my right to marry the person I love. As a homosexual, this personal freedom is not something available to me in all states. Gay marriage still eludes much of the country. Furthermore, for over a century now, simple recognition and equality have been an uphill battle for homosexuals; despite all the great strides and changes that occurred during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, there is currently very little federal protection... middle of paper... it's true that my equality and personal freedoms are no different from my heterosexual friends and neighbors. I will continue to appreciate my personal freedoms and fully embrace the one firm rule in life; the constancy of change. Works Cited Berkin, Carol, Christopher L. Miller, Robert W. Cherny, and James L. Gormly. Making America: A History of the United States, 6th ed. Boston: MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2013. Ross-Nassal, James. “Civil Rights Mid 1960s,” audio lecture 23d, 29:57, http://eo2.hccs.edu/mod/folder/view.php?id=187210 (accessed January 17, 2014). Von Krafft-Ebing, Richard. “Perversion of the sexual instinct? Case report”, trans. H. M. Jewett, Alienist and Neurologist (St. Louis, Missouri), vol. 9, no. 4 (October 1888). Reprinted in American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the United States, ed. Jonathan Katz (New York: Avon Books, 1976), 59–60.