To blog or not to blog

With the recent passing anniversaries of two noteworthy events in world history, my thoughts went to how easily and effortlessly we blog, twitter, e-mail, correspond, etc and openly put our personal thoughts out there for the world to see. (Well, okay, no one in Budapest is gonna read my blog, but you get my meaning.) I’m talking of D-day, June 6, 1944 during WWII and the famous standoff in Tienanmen Square in 1989. When those 150,000 men stormed Normandy beaches on D-Day under insurmountable odds, and when those thousands of Chinese stood their ground on Tienanmen Square in defiance of their country’s censorship, besides being scared of the unknown, I wonder if any of them shared the same thoughts to the real meanings of their actions? At Normandy, no doubt, most of them thought merely of survival and maybe believed what they were doing was a beginning of the end to war. They were following orders. I have no idea what that lone man thought as he stood his ground in front of tanks in Tienanmen Square, an inspiration to others, hundreds of who were massacred or jailed for their beliefs. Even Cyberspace censorship by the government was imposed, we only know a portion of it all. They were following their consciences driven by hope and desire. Twenty years later they still live under scrutiny and censorship, lives I can’t imagine living, lifestyles and freedoms we take for granted. Since D-Day, some 65 years later, our freedom continues; we’re not speaking German or Russian, and we relish, and some even abuse, the First Amendment.
These two events, being approx fifty years apart, have the same meaning to me: determination and fortitude of the human spirit. My time in Vietnam was selfish. Initially, I wanted to go thinking I was saving democracy. Later when reality set in, I merely wanted to make it back to “the world” as we called it then, and enjoy freedoms and a lifestyle I had taken for granted. I was too young to grasp the reality of it. I just wanted to drive my car anywhere I wanted, eat a hamburger, have a coke with ice in it and live a life full of tomorrows and put this third-world county experience behind me.
The contrast and outcome of these two events cause me to reflect and get on my soapbox, on how easily we blog without fear of retaliation or prosecution, how great our country really is and how some choose not to use this freedom of expression. But, we still have the choice. I can go on about the LDS persecution in the early days of the Church, but that’s a whole different topic. Likewise with personal marriage rights of individuals. I just wanted to rant about our freedom of speech & its formats.
I watched parts of "Saving Private Ryan" the other night, specifically the heart-tugging & thought provoking end. (I’d seen the entire movie a few times before) In the movie, Tom Hanks (who plays the captain), told Private Ryan, “make it count,” referring to his life being saved and the sacrifices and deaths of those who found him and removed him from the war zone. I thought of my life, my family, my career, my fellow bloggers. I thought of Normandy, Tienanmen Square and the countless other countries in the world today who don’t enjoy our freedoms. (tune your imagination to hearing The Battle Hymn of the Republic being played )
We may not all agree with the state of our country but we all agree we have the right to voice our opinions about it. I can't imagine Cyberspace censorship in the USA!!
Blog on, fellow bloggers!