Chapter 59

Most people in this country are living the dream, and they don’t even know it. Having lived in the Former USSR and the former Yugoslavia and visiting the surrounding countries, and hearing their stories of what life was like under communism, it makes me shudder. But can gross injustice happen in the land of democracy? For sure. Heck our police shot and killed a lady who was sleeping in bed recently and no charges were filed! This is so wrong in so many ways, and my heart breaks. Yet there is a difference here.

Instead of this lady being shot and killed in her sleep being the normative actions of the police or state, it is in all honesty the exception rather than the rule. It was rooted in mistakes and poor performance, not intentional terrorism from the State or the police. As my dad and I sit here and argue this case, it becomes clear that we too would shoot back if people were breaking into our house police or not. It becomes clear that while guns don’t kill people, but people kill people, the gun changes the equation so emphatically that this argument becomes, if not mute, at least very convoluted.

But I digressed into my conversation with my dad, so that I don’t have to sit hear and listen to mule stories. The point here, is that no one is systematically shooting us at night while we are trying to sleep. No one is terrorizing us, spying on us, bullying us, forcing us or pressuring us. We have the freedom to live and thrive - its living the dream.