Chapter 1 - A Connection to Hope - Page 3

Not even the administrators could tell me, or would not tell me, the reason for the sudden change. After years of checking out books, suddenly, I had been stripped of the privilege. Consequently, I refused to provide additional information and they refused checkout. I returned the ten or twelve items I had checked out previously and left. As I walked out I felt the loss of a personal experience and liberty that I had enjoyed most of my life. Who or what was responsible for this? Orwell’s 1984 came to mind—is big brother h-e-r-e? Never mind being tracked by satellite twenty-four hours a day or being monitored by camera moments after I exit my home; this was different. It was cloaked. The intensification of my patriotism was actualized at that moment.

Peace and security in my homeland had been a constant state of being to that day. The Constitution—unchangeable except by great contemplation and extended consideration—somehow had been circumvented to intrude on my privacy and freedom. But how? That single act by the county library represented a fundamental shift in the structure of our democracy. It seemed unreal. Yet, it was.

As I went about my daily activities after that day, America’s songs began to pop into my head more and more. And without conscious thought, I began to sing them aloud. Months turned into years as I pricked my ears for the outcries against the constitutional violations that were assaulting American citizens. But there was only deafening silence. There was no revolt; not even an inkling of one. It was as though everyone was in total denial—the “what do you have to hide” psychology had worked. An affront to our civil liberties was met with submission. Was it the beginning of a “clear and present danger?”

My mom and my mentor were such strong activists in the political process that I had a natural inclination to politics at a very young age. Long before I was able to vote I could “talk politics.” It was exhilarating to me as a teenager to participate
in political debates. Back then there was no personal ridicule associated with the process; political opinions were respected and opposed politely.