The over-protected child

Oh how we lament the over-protected child. His protective mother locks him indoors, medicates him at the first sniffle, scruitinizes his every playmate, barring any from entry to the house who might expose the secret that the world outside is safe afterall. Dare he wish to go to a friend's to play, the protective mother calls the friend's home, notifying the parent in charge of his penchant for illness, that he is not to watch television, drink soda, candy, cookies or do anything else that might get him excited.

While away at school, she rifles through his personal belongings searching for any clues that he is being blindly lead down some horrible path away from her ideal of righteousness. Is he listening to Rock-n-Roll (or is it Rap?)? Is he doing drugs or does he own any pornographic materials? Is he expressing himself, his personal, private thoughts, someplace, and if so, what is he saying?

Of course we all know of such mothers, and even an occasional father, and scorn them for not allowing their children to experience the reality of life and grow on their own. We fear for these kids when they finally experience the real world outside the protection of their parents. How will they cope? What will they do when confronted with a child of a different color, or they experience racism for the first time? Or, God forbid, they should get hurt, feel pain, the hearbreak of love lost.

While every parent wants what is best for their child, most do not see such overprotectionism as being in their children's best interests. They will let them fall, always under a watchful eye, and allow their children to pick themselves back up. Given in small doses as a child grows, such stumbles and hardships help prepare them for the greater challenges that await them as adults. What is interesting is that many such protected children fail to recognize that they are being set up for a great fall, a serious slap from reality.

Curiously, the same seems to be true of over protected adults.

Overprotected adults? Yes! Today, they are called Americans, and the parents are George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, with Uncles Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Carl Rove doing their own parts to contribute. Secretly sneaking into our lives in the name of protecting us from the dangers that lurk outside; keeping out those who think, or speak, differently than we do, lest they give us ideas.

It is about time we opened our eyes and recognized that our over protective government is lying to us under the guise of protecting us from some nebulous threat called terrorism. In doing so, it is restricting our freedoms, sealing our borders, and attacking the very ideals that make this country what it is today, attacking the pursuit of the American Dream.

Defending American freedom... with our lives.

American is the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Our freedoms must be protected against infringement, even if it leads to the loss of lives. Our most precious freedoms are written into the First Ammendment of our Constitution and they include freedom of speech, freedom of religious expression, freedom of the press as well as the freedom to peaceably assemble and to petition the government to address grievances. These rights are vital to making the United States the great country that it is today, and they are worth defending and even dying for. I am quite sure that there is not a single person reading this that would not agree. Wars have been fought and hundreds of thousands have died in the name of defending this freedom. Our president, George Bush, tells us that we must beat the terrorists abroad in order to defend these freedoms.

Another right guaranteed in our Bill of Rights is written as "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." So now I ask, in what way was George Bush defending our rights when he violated this particular right himself, against thousands of American citizens? How can we trust this person who himself violated our trust and our rights, to defend us from those who themselves seek to do the same thing?

We claim to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. How brave must we be to prefer the killings of tens of thousands of innocent, non-American citizens, so that we prevent an attack which might take a couple thousand American lives? Is this bravery? The Heritage Dictionary defines Bravery as "the condition or quality of being brave; courage." Courage: "The state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence, and resolution; bravery." The invasion of Iraq, the killing of at least 30,000 Iraqi citizens, this was not done as an act of bravery. This war was begun out of rage and fear. The US is not facing danger and fear, rather our government is creating a sense of danger (presumed weapons of mass destruction and terrorism) to generate fear among the American people so that they can promote an agenda of capitalist imperialism, under the guise of "defending American freedoms".

Well, I am no coward. I am not going to hide behind the lives of millions of Iraqis, Iranians, Afghanis, Koreans, or any other supposed threat to American superiority. Nor am I going to allow the president of the greatest country in the world, or the elected representatives of its citizens, to stomp on our freedoms in the name of defending them. This is why we must not allow the Patriot Act to be renewed and why we must hold President Bush accountable for NSA surveillance of American citizens, detention and abuse of prisoners in Guantanamo, Cuba, and elsewhere, the false justification of the war in Iraq, the failure to recognize the signs leading to the attack on the World Trade Center, and all other crimes against humanity and the freedoms of Americans that may yet come to light.

Thank You,
John Ahrens
Los Angeles, CA