Freedom: It means choice, sacrifice and gratitude

"America gave me safety and liberty. Here you can speak anything, no in Iraq, no freedom. It's good because here I can dress in anything, in Iraq no."

Name/age: Mona Abood, 46

Occupation: Housewife

Personal: Married; three sons

Citizenship: Refugee

The goodness in people, the feelings of safety and hope, have made the resettlement of Mona Abood and her family in the United States from Iraq a lot easier.

Mrs. Abood, from Lebanon, fled Iraq in 2006. She arrived in Chattanooga with her husband and three sons almost nine months ago.

She said she is able to experience freedom again.

Since the Aboods arrived in the area, her children have been able to go to school without her wondering if she's going to see them again.

In Iraq, Mrs. Abood paid to have her oldest son taken to school in a car and her middle child didn't go to school at all.

"In Iraq no school. Very scared," she said.

After the Aboods received an envelope with two bullets and a note stating they had 24 hours to leave Iraq or risk being killed, the family fled to Lebanon. They left everything behind.

Although it's hard to start from the beginning, Mrs. Abood is grateful for the opportunity.

"Children are very happy here because here (safe)," she said.

"I've always felt like my place was in the military, especially after 9/11. I had a calling. When I think of freedom, I think of sacrifice. Freedom is being thankful for what you do have."

Name/age: Sgt. 1st Class Richard Baxter, 41

Occupation: Tennessee Army National Guard recruiter

Personal: Married; two sons, two daughters

Citizenship: U.S.

Opium dens, early death, a lack of basic electricity and running water, and all of it made worse by an unforgiving mountainous terrain. Sgt. 1st Class Richard Baxter said the things he saw in Afghanistan last year made other tours to Iraq look like a vacation.

He went there as a part of an embedded training team with the Army. He served as a combat adviser for the Afghan police.

The smaller aspects of Afghan life truly separated the trip from others he's made and, more than any other overseas experience, have led him to appreciate America's freedoms.

"Afghanistan was probably the biggest eye opener for me. People who are 35 look like they're 65. They escape reality by smoking opium -- all the time."

"I decided I was going to change my life and not stress over the stupid things anymore," Sgt. Baxter said. "I decided that I have a car, I've got a house, I've got a dog, I have my kids in school. My kids drive. And if they need to go to the doctor, they go to the doctor. Life just doesn't happen that way in Afghanistan."

"Freedom is realizing that life has a very precious value to it. It is up to no one to take it, to deny it, to mistreat it, to withhold it. Freedom is about having a choice. You have the choice to live right or live wrong."

Name/age: Sarah Bryant, 25

Occupation: Housekeeper

Personal: Married; one daughter

Citizenship: U.S.

At 15, Sarah Bryant was behind bars. She stayed there for nine years, the result of a carefree lifestyle filled with drugs and alcohol -- and the mistakes she made with two boyfriends that led to murder.

Police claimed Ms. Bryant planned with one boyfriend, who was 18, to rob the other, who was 16. But the victim didn't just lose his money. Authorities found him, beaten and shot to death, in August 2000 in a wooded area off Wilcox Boulevard.

"I just wanted to get it over with. It eats at you real bad," Ms. Bryant said of her decision to plead guilty at 18 to the facilitation of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery.

Now 25, Ms. Bryant has been free from the women's prison in Nashville to plan her adult life for just over a year. She is soft-spoken, respectful, married and has a 4-month-old daughter. It is hard to believe she forever will be labeled a convicted felon.

"I went through a bunch of stages in prison. First anger, then denial, then understanding, then accepting," Ms. Bryant said. "I also felt shame and guilt. The shame meant there was something wrong with me. The guilt meant I did something wrong."

"Liberty lives in the hearts of people. While it lives there, it needs no government, no law, no court to save it. When it dies there, no government, no law, no court can save it."

Name/age: Harry S. "Sandy" Mattice, 54

Occupation: U.S. district judge, Eastern federal district of Tennessee

Personal: Married, three sons

Citizenship: U.S.

Harry S. "Sandy" Mattice served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee before becoming a federal district judge in 2006. So while he once prosecuted those who break federal laws, a large part of Judge Mattice's job now is determining how long people should be incarcerated for their crimes.

His task is compounded by a set of federal sentencing guidelines that, among prosecutors and defense attorneys alike, are considered much harsher than most state sentencing guidelines. Convicted drug dealers, for instance, can go to prison for life depending on their criminal histories, and the concept of parole does not exist in the federal system.

Still, sentencing guidelines are just that, and Judge Mattice has the authority to make the final call. It's one of the reasons Judge Mattice believes that it's "better to be grounded in philosophy than in law" when making a decision that affects someone's freedom.

"Freedom is the birthright of every human being and of all people," he said. "You can only have freedom for yourself if you are willing to grant it to every person. If one human being is denied freedom, then no one can have it. Most of human history has been spent trying to learn this simple lesson."