Are we really free?

Tonight finds me feeling very sad and discouraged and upset.  We are supposed to live in a free country here in the USA, but we don't.  The freedom that we feel we have is only an illusion.  You have that freedom only as long as you don't cross the wrong people.

I've taken to my blog, because over the past year, and very recently, over the past few months, I've learned that you aren't free to say what you want.  Especially on facebook.  And just tonight, I had an up-close and personal experience with 'we didn't like what you posted'.  I've never before felt harassed and intimidated in my own home before, but I felt that tonight.  It's a very disappointing and discouraging feeling.  Especially considering that I had an ancestor who fought in the revolutionary war, for the founding of this nation.

Over the past year, I've deleted posts off my facebook timeline because of the hassle that arose from a simple post.  I've had to unfriend and block people, because they got mad that I deleted their comments off of my posts on my timeline.  Tonight I deleted several posts because the result of those posts was rather unpleasant.

I've learned to fear speaking my own mind.  On my blog, on my pages, in facebook groups, on my own facebook timeline.  What kind of world have we created?  When people fear sharing their thoughts and opinions in what is supposed to be the freest nation on earth?

We have a president who has just recently taken dictator-like actions in order to ensure that his immigration policies are turned into law.  We have a government that does it's own thing with little regard for the people it is supposed to serve.  And perhaps that is where the problem lies?  Has our government forgotten that it is there to serve the people?  Each and every person, and not just the majority of people?  Or certain interest groups.  Or big campaign contributors.

Is this where our government has become corrupted?  Does it now serve only certain people?  Cater to certain interest groups?

We have a society of people who feel they are entitled to a wide range of things, including the right to harass another person if they feel like it.  Bullying, both online and offline, has grown to an enormous problem; with the harassed people sometimes sadly resorting to suicide to escape the torment.  And that is sad beyond words.

Even as I write this blog post, I already fear what possible, unforeseen repercussions might spring up from my writing and posting it.

I've learned the value of doing what my many friends do, and not making all posts public.  I've learned that many things I have to say, I'm maybe best off to just say them in my own journal, that is just for me and no one else.

I've learned to fear . . .
fear what may arise from the words I want to share.

I've learned to just shut up and not say anything . . . 
because saying something may bring unpleasantness, and it's just simpler to keep my mouth shut and not say anything at all.

I've learned deep and abiding sadness . . . 
sadness over the state of our world now, and the insensitivity and/or inconsiderateness and/or thoughtlessness of people in general.

I long ago learned not to trust . . . 
and to be suspicious.

We live in a day and age where we are more technologically advanced than in any other.  But our ability to communicate with one another effectively seems to diminish on a daily basis.  We are losing our ability to understand one another, to care for our fellow man.

We know more about people all over the world, now more than ever, and can communicate easily with someone on the other side of the world.  But we have less and less sympathy and compassion for other people all the time.

The people of this world routinely play violent video games where the point of the game is to kill people.  But when a shooting occurs in a school, we call for the ban of real guns; while ignoring the influence of the fake guns and the violence in these video games.

I don't like the way I feel tonight, and there is a deep and abiding sadness residing in my soul;  as if something precious and irretrievable has died tonight.  Is dying in our world.  I do not care to think of what the future holds.  I will only strive to deal with the moment, focus on our own needs; while keeping my own counsel as much as possible, and being cautious about . . . . everything.
-- jd --