Safe Meet Free

 

I feel a multipart series coming on. Given that satan has pulled out all the stops in the final push to eradicate any trace of morality, common decency and common sense, thereby erasing any vestige of the values that keep humans restrained by the God designed universal laws of creation, I see no downside to speaking up for God's side. If I get arrested or just canceled, I'm okay with that. I have chosen the hill I am willing to die on. 

The links form here:

Part 1: Rock Meet Bottom

Part 2: Plenty Meet Dearth

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I was known as a 'prepper' in 1999. Generally it was a derogatory term applied to those who were concerned that all things digital might run into some glitches when the clock rolled over to a minute past midnight January 1, 2000.

I didn't care, as I never do, what names I am called. I, as I always have done, had Plan B - just in case. Thing is, there actually was serious concern about many strategic services that operate via computer code, like, for example, the electric grid. Major corporations hired techs who were working overtime reprogramming the source code others had written years before who forgot to factor in the change from 19 to 20.

So, yes, the threat was real and even if only a few things were impacted or shut down, even 22 years ago, this world is so interdependent and interconnected by ones and zeroes, it could have been a disaster as each domino fell. 

Indeed, there were a handful of hiccups as computers adjusted but when the all clear was called on January 2, 2000, I was both relieved and not the least bit sorry I had extra supplies. They came in handy over time.  I didn't have to buy toilet paper for several years. :-)

Independent as I have always been, until this episode in my life, I, an ordinary American, had never been in a position to ask whether I would choose freedom over safety even as there are numerous quotes from our famous founding fathers on this very topic. I was admittedly willing to be prepared for potential hardship but I had not considered the possibility of losing the natural freedoms this country was founded on in exchange for being kept safe and fed like gold fish in a bowl.  

Those who made fun of the preppers not only were willing to bet nothing would happen, they also were convinced that even if something did happen those who had the power would take care of us.  Because, you know, our government always makes good, sound decisions that are in our best interests. 

While I never was one to consider building an underground bunker nor did I have 'bug out bags' packed and ready to grab if escape was the only option, I did wonder what I would do if push came to shove and martial law was declared and citizens were rounded up and forced into FEMA camps 'for our safety'.

Twenty one years later, watching the news in horror as several countries forced their citizens into lock down and Covid camps, I had a flashback to those days when I asked myself what I would prefer - being safely imprisoned or being independently able to live or die on my own terms? 

I chose freedom over safety. Not unlike the Pilgrims who risked everything to load their families on boats and set sail for a primitive, unknown, uncharted land. Modern history revisionists will call these brave souls derogatory names but no one can deny they risked everything to be free. It was, in fact, that pioneer spirit that gave birth to the country that millions of others have sought to escape to for nearly 250 years, in a quest for what has been dubbed 'The American Dream'.  

The single most important element in the concept of the American Dream is the promises made in our Constitution which include God given natural rights all of which require individual freedoms.

History is crowded with examples of the consequences of giving up liberty for safety and not a single case turns out well for those beholden to those with the power to impose rules that can be presented as good but do great harm instead.  

Given that satan is always working to find ways to convince us that we don't need God in order to disarm us, slavery often uses invisible shackles presented as good sounding lies. Once several generations have been born into and lived as serfs without recognizing it, they don't even know what freedom is nor would they know how to be free.  China and North Korea come to mind. 

So the question remains - which is better - bondage even if renamed 'safety' or the riskier, more challenging condition of living as a freethinking individual - the kind of human who  builds and innovates, and can survive in spite of threat of insecurity...or unplugging of the AI in control? 

 

More than two decades beyond the Y2K wake up call that all things controlled by a system that requires Artificial Intelligence rather than genuine God-created human logic and reason, we have not only forgotten and abandoned the call to think as individuals, we now trust and depend on the invisible shackles that require we be non-thinkers.

Personally I'm going to stick with liberty or death, like Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin and all the pioneers who were willing to die for the cause of being free to be.  I would rather be a free swimming fish in the ocean, dodging hooks and sharks all day than a goldfish in a bowl.

But then, that's just me, thinking like the antique independent that I am.  

For Him,

Meema