It was cold in Edmonton, Alberta – my hometown in Canada – it was snowing. But it was warm in Houston, humid. We got off the plane, my family and I, arriving finally at our new home.
That was twenty years ago today.
My childhood dream had always been to move to America, to Texas. I was captivated even as a child by American liberty and independence. When I was 15 years old I told some classmates that “mark my words, before I’m 22 years old I’ll be living in America.”
And there I was, two months before my 19th birthday, a newly arrived Texan. I was amazed.
I knew more about American history on that day than any American I’d met. I was just in love with the early writings of American independence, protection of rights, of personal liberty. I knew there was nowhere on earth where there was such opportunity, such celebration of individualism.
But I am sad today.
In my two decades I’ve seen the furthering of the Patriot Act. I’ve seen the protection of corporations over small businesses. I’ve seen the celebration of the elite over the entrepreneurial individual. I’ve seen the senseless prolonging of orchestrated wars that we should never have been in, a shameful loss of human life. I’ve seen leaders set before us over and over to choose from to lead us and I’ve shaken my head and said, “is this really the best America has to offer?”
I was asleep, believing one side knew better than the other, not realizing both are sides of the same corrupt coin. I was asleep, not understanding the global agenda, not understanding that bailing out banks but not the small family businesses was exactly what the elitists wanted. I was becoming disillusioned and confused but was still not fully awake.
I became a libertarian about 12 years ago, excited believing I could be part of the change of direction we badly needed. Only then, I discovered how the media manipulates and censors so that differing opinions cannot even get out. I’ve written letters and emails, asking why my candidate of choice wasn’t on the polling options. I’ve seen the media and government present us with two options, like a football game, when deep down it hardly matters who wins because they are all cronies underneath their Democrat blue or Republican red.
Then I saw the plandemic shake away even more of our freedoms. To where I was truly in fear of losing my job over an experimental injection. To where I literally sold my home in fear of being stuck in a mortgage I couldn’t afford if I didn’t get the jab. To where I saw people I know and love forced out of jobs. Seeing people in isolation becoming depressed. Seeing the despots on television telling us that we shouldn’t even gather for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Canceling Christmas in America? Eighteen year old me would have scoffed at the notion.
I still celebrate coming here. I live a fun, adventurous life with people I love so much and have achieved a great many things over the last twenty years. But a part of me is deeply grieved. The America I believed in is over. Maybe it hasn’t even existed in a very long time. We live under a paper thin veil of freedom that is shredding off of us with each passing day.
I see Americans grieving over the loss of freedom, even as they fight hard to take it back, because they’re starting to realize things haven’t been as they seem for a long time. And I sort of understand. Because twenty years ago I arrived here thinking this had been my greatest dream come true, to share in this great American dream, but now I see we are but a breath away from losing everything it ever was.
I’m humble enough to admit I was naive. I am strong enough to take a stand against the tyranny taking over. And I’m brave enough to lose whatever it takes on the process, to find what I thought I found twenty years ago.
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Anna Farley 