John Jordan is a freelance writer from Chatham and co-owns a Bed and Breakfast at the family farm.	What Freedom?

 

What ever happened to freedom as we used to know it? When we were much younger than now, we used to cross the border as if it wasn't there. "Citizenship? All Canadians. Where you going? Have a great day". Oh sure, on the return trip our federal representatives managed to collect their duties when they meant something. "How long have you been away? Just today? What's that refrigerator doing in the back there sir? Come with me." But that said, we still crossed the river as if it wasn't there. Go to the ball game, see the Wings, the Auto Show, the cousins, you name it, we had many reasons to go.

Now cross the river and you get the idea YOU are the criminal. Even though some people say it doesn't take that long, it still is so thorough that I wonder how any vagrant could think about slipping through. Going into the U.S. you see about four cameras focusing on your vehicle, looking over, under and sideways just to make sure there is no bag of fertilizer or dope hidden in some fender. Then you pass though a device that checks for radio activity. I am told the Geiger counter goes crazy when Canadians who have just had an MRI at the local hospital try to go through. Now that is sensitive.

Then you get to the booth where the man says, "Where were you born?" or "What's your citizenship?" Say anything but Canadian and you are dead meat. We were on a bus trip recently where we got the third degree and one of our travelers on the bus said, "That's nothing. You should see the hoops you have to jump through and the delays you get when a friend of mine said she was born in Afghanistan!"

You get what I mean.
Just the intimidation and threat of it all is what brings me to my question. Whatever happened to freedom as we used to know it? It's gone.

Security for the safety of the country comes before the freedom you used to think you had.

Back to that bag of fertilizer, I recall as a youngster, helping to dig the holes under unwanted tree stumps. A neighbour, who was a WW II vet got his blasting experience when he took out bridges so Hitler's retreating troops had no way of getting back to the Fatherland, found lots of work after the war taking out stumps. I can't believe how cavalier we were back then, him smoking a cigarette, me making a slurry out of diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate, pouring it down the holes that I had spudded out, then sliding a stick of dynamite down the hole and tamping everything back down with the dirt. He takes that lit cigarette, lights the fuse and nonchalantly tells me to take a hike and he'd be right behind. KABBOOM and that stump was out faster than my old dentist could take out an impacted molar out of my sore jaw. This stunt which was so common when I was a kid, would draw criminal charges today, I am sure. In fact, most fertilizer dealers do not sell ammonium nitrate any longer and I have no idea where you can buy a stick of dynamite now.

Try getting on an airplane now with anything more than a loonie or two in your pocket and you are deemed suspicious. Pocket knives are taboo, anything with a sharp edge is grounds for staying home and ladies, don't wear underwired bras on a plane. I know one couple who lost a week at their time share over that one! She refused the dreaded up-close and personal search. The only thing they are going to find on me is about 50 extra pounds that need shedding. (Oh, my wife just chimed in, "make that 75 pounds".)

So you can't cross the border like you used to, you can't go to the farm supply store and buy stuff like you used to and you can't climb on an airplane like you used to. From where I sit on the verandah, I'd say our big brother has really got a hold on us. Like it? No way! But do I accept it? What choice do we have? It is either play by the new rules or crawl into a fox hole.

People have a problem with looking back at the so-called 'good old days'. We often sort out the good stuff and forget to mention the bad. With terrorism on the rise and with deadly information so readily available, it is no wonder we have to give up those things we thought were freedoms. This is today and get used to it! End of story!