Sometimes I gaze at my dog when he’s sleeping and wonder what he thinks of his life. At times, I envy him. He looks so content sleeping in my warm house with not a care in the world. I take good care of him, and he wants for nothing, and nothing is really expected of him. As I leave for work in the morning is the time I envy him most. I glance back at him and wish I could trade places with him, if just for a day. What a life; eat, play and sleep.
So I have to wonder, with the life he has, where he gets fed and loved, why is he constantly looking for a way either over or under the fence in the back yard? Does he hate me, or resent me? No, that can’t be it. Anyone who has ever owned a dog knows the look of adoration in a dog’s eyes. So it can only be one thing that he craves.
Freedom.
He wants to be able to come and go as he pleases. That means that while he loves me, and while he has every intention to return, he nevertheless longs to explore what’s on the other side of the fence. He wants to be free.
Freedom is something I used to believe was ingrained in the human spirit, something which we craved above all else; something that we’ve historically been willing to die for. So why is it that so many are so willing to give it up? Is it because it is not being wrenched from our grasp, but being bled from us like grains of fine sand through one’s fingers? Is it really possible that so many cannot see it happening? Apparently, it is, and it’s tragic.
What is almost as tragic is the fierce reaction from those who refuse to see. Some reading this will think that the whole article is about an isolated incident, and will scoff loudly. What they fail to do is to step away from the small, individual line far enough to see the entire drawing. Think about your neighbor moving his fence one inch per year closer to your house. One inch per year, and 12 years later, without your even noticing, and he has a foot of your property as his own.
Governments both federal and local in this country are slowly eroding our basic freedoms “for the good of society”. They are doing this by instituting punative taxes on that which they deem detrimental. Corporations are beginning to demand that employees behave in a specified way or face termination. We are being shaped, molded and herded. They are attempting to make us all conform to a standardized template.
I understand that some of the reasons may be well intended. I also understand that there are those who wish to have a larger entity looking over them, taking care of them, making sure they are eating properly and exercising regularly. I am not one of them.
All I want to do is get over that damned fence and be free.
-Woody
