“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes,” someone said.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but you can hear its echoes every day. Politicians goad each other into waging war. The actions of insane criminals are used to justify shackling the innocent. Censors in every era use the same arguments to silence original thought or dissent.
The same wind that brings echoes of past foolishness also brings echoes of lost freedoms. The hills are alive with the cries of free men and women who no longer are allowed to walk, talk or act freely. The echoes recall a time when your body was yours, what you earned was yours, your land was yours, and your honestly acquired property was yours.
Tyrants seized power or were “duly elected” on promises to protect and defend your rights to what was yours. Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us. Fool us over and over, and there’s too much shame to go around.
Still, I’ve got a bell and a song to sing, and the star of freedom never quite winks completely out. Echoes of freedom past are never quite stilled.