I often have extremely detailed dreams about whatever is happening on television while I sleep.  The morning of September 23, 2009, as Barack Obama gave his first address to the United Nations, I had the following dream.
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I am walking on the edge of a model world.  I can see how everything is neatly laid out.  A voice booms out from somewhere above me, laying out his goals for the future of the World.  That voice belongs to United States President Barack Obama.
He tells us that he wants all citizens of the World to live in peace, all ruled by International Law.  He wants all Nations to have the right to have nuclear energy.  Regarding nuclear weapons, he wants all Nations to follow nuclear non-proliferation, and eventually complete nuclear disarmament.  No nation, he says, should assert dominance over another.  Instead, all should work together as partners.
The Voice Above talks about wanting all citizens to purchase health insurance.  Everyone will receive a free college education, in exchange for which they will be required to serve a period of “mandatory volunteer work for the Government”.  Mandatory volunteer work?  Something about that doesn’t sound right.
I walk through a stark hallway, seeking where I will spend my own future. The Voice lays out what all citizens need to do to ensure the success of our Civilization.  I ask one person walking beside me, “What if we just want to stay home playing video games?”  He laughs, both of us made uncomfortable by my speaking against the unseen power of The Voice.
The Voice talks about all races, and all Nations, being equal.  This, of course, seems a noble goal, but can it be legislated?  People of indeterminate race are all around me.  Their features, and even their shapes, blur and change as they move quickly along.  They make derisive remarks and attack me, a white male, as they pass me by.
I enter an area where a military attack is being prepared for.  Nobody objects to a civilian being in a war zone, and I wonder why.  Then I realize the truth.  All in this attack happens in an orderly fashion, as if the outcome is already determined.  It’s essentially a perfectly acted-out play simulating War, as if Mankind still fights for something.
I enter an area of industry.  All is pipes and mechanical equipment.  This is one of the places workers are needed, but it is not for me.  I love the freedom of country living too much for that.
I see an exit that leads to country fields, and head that way.  Perhaps my future lies in the countryside.  Sure enough, there are beautiful fields stretching out, with an occasional tree, but somehow it all seems artificial.  There are no animals, or people, to be seen anywhere.  Each fenced-in field is of an identical size, the trees are evenly spaced, and there is the occasional armed soldier or military tank placed so that it can keep everyone in line.
It comes to me that in Obama’s vision for the future of the World, there is no true personal liberty, nor chance for following one’s own goals in pursuit of financial success.  The chances to live in different surroundings serve merely to give the illusion of freedom of choice.  This is a Socialist World.  All resources are to be shared equally by all people.  Everyone lives exactly the same as everyone else, except for performing different functions to serve Society.  It doesn’t matter what you do, or how hard you work, you will not have more or less than anyone else.  Peace comes at a cost.  It will last only if you are doing exactly as The Government expects you to do, and you are being watched at all times.

Copyright September 24, 2009 by lonelywanderer2 @ xanga.com

I open my eyes, and the image on the TV catches my attention immediately.  The World Trade Center is hit by a plane.  Soon after, another plane hits another tower.

“How long has this been going on?”, I ask my  wife.  “About an hour now.”  “Why the fuck didn’t you wake me?”  I know we’re at war, I just don’t know who the bastards are.  I call the Air Force Training Base where I am a Security Police Officer, and ask if they need me to come in right away.  They tell me to come in at my normal time; they may need me later.

As I get ready for the drive to work, I take my 9mm pistol and loaded clips with me.  I don’t know if I might be targeted just because of the uniform I wear, but if I am, I want to be ready.

I pull up to the gate to see armed men all over the place.  I recognize the man who meets me, M-16 automatic rifle in hand.  He is not normally in Security Police, or even armed, when he works.  He  works in the ammo dump.  He says he needs to search my van, which I can certainly understand.  I inform him that I have my personal sidearm next to me, not wanting him to panic when he sees it there..  As he searches, I turn to say something, or maybe to ask him something.  He jumps, I shit you not, about a foot in the air and yells, “What; what’s wrong???!!!”

Being no fool, and unwilling to die because this idiot is scared out of his mind, I raise my hands and say, “Not a thing in this world”.

What follows is fourteen and a half hours of patrolling and watching for threats, sitting at a guardhouse with half a dozen sleepy guys who don’t want to be there, drinking bad coffee, and even dark humor on my part about horny widows swarming the singles bars around the World Trade Center in a month or so.  Sick and twisted?  Probably, but hey, what the fuck, when you’re that tired, and that nervous, laughing is better than crying.

This is really not the beginning of the war on terror, but it made most people in the world aware we can’t avoid taking action any longer.  There has not been a time since then that the men and women who serve, and those who have died, have not been on my mind.  I did my part, but I wish I could do more.  Please take the time to appreciate those who have ever served, and those who will serve in the future.  They fight to allow us to be safe, or at least as safe as possible.

As the old saying goes, “Freedom Isn’t Free”

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