A guest blogger on my site?

Not in 13 years of “The Meaning of Life Blog”.

Until today.

Michael Worsfold‘s piece (a 3-minute read) does not concern writing or movies or the meaning of life. It is, however, about a powerfully reflective moment that would make any character, fictional or not, recalibrate their journey to a more heroic end.

Mike recounted this experience while we were searching for his golf ball in a muddy lagoon off the 5th fairway of the Blue Ocean Golf Course on the Sunshine Coast:

“Screams in the night”

I heard a scream in the dark of the early dawn. Then another and another.

They sounded close by, a stream of terrified screams, like someone being tortured.

My heart racing, I looked out into the dark. Should I go there? What would I be walking into?

I was awake enough to observe myself having an all-too-vivid nightmare. Nothing specific in it, just the sounds of screams in the dark. Close by.

I would usually shrug off such a dream without much thought. I’d get up, make coffee, and get on with my day. But lately I’ve been paying attention to my dreams, and though many have been positive, this one was different. This one was scary.

What could it mean? That I’m living in a world of screams?

The screams of Afghans. And those who aided our armed forces and whom we abandoned under cover of darkness.

The screams of native families ripped apart by the indiscriminate power of the Federal Government and the Catholic Church. “It’s for your own good,” authorities said, ignoring any human rights the indigenous people might have had. Hundreds of gravesites discovered, some people call it genocide, yet we’ve seen no investigation.

If it could happen to them, could it happen to you and me? Or is it happening right now?

“It’s for your own good”

A threat emerges, such as Covid-19. Authorities know what’s best for us and threaten consequences if we don’t cooperate. Their fearful message, adopted by the media, is relentless. Authorities impose controls, restrict our movements, damage lives, and destroy small businesses. All the while keeping us in the dark with confusing information.

Is that their strategy, to make the problem so complex that no one can get a grip on it?

You can see how it happens by degrees—we play along, fearful of being thought selfish, stupid, or unkind. “Maybe I’m wrong,” we tell ourselves. Let’s have a drink. What’s on TV?

We’ve seen this movie before and we know it does not end well.

But a minority resists. They question the efficacy of wearing masks and are wary of vaccines rushed to market. These doubters become targets of abuse, cut off even from friends and family. They are painted by the media as putting everyone at risk. And the masses take up the mantra and, like robots, repeat the party line.

What if the minority is right?

Soren Kierkegaard: “Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion — and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion — while truth again reverts to a new minority.”

People have suffered from Covid, yes. Most have minor symptoms. There have been deaths, but have they been accurately attributed? Most were elderly and had multiple issues. And what of the controversy around the test that tallies the cases? Then there’s the matter of incentives—Covid deaths pay medicos more.

More Screams

The muffled screams of those infected with a more serious virus—the virus of fear. Fear has enabled the lockdown measures. Front-line workers, confident of support from the top, bully and abuse those with legitimate health-based exemptions from wearing masks.

There’s the unheard screams of families breaking apart over the use of masks and other mandates. The screams of suffering due to financial difficulties resulting from lockdowns. The screams of business owners whose staff stay at home collecting CERB. Screams of those whose businesses and lives are destroyed.

More screams from those suffering overdoses and alcoholism. Screams from the families of suicide victims and those dying waiting for surgery. And the adult children of elderly parents in nursing homes, they are denied access to their loved ones who die alone.

A law suit coming

But there is a civil lawsuit recently filed that may attract attention. It details the massive collateral damage of Covid-19 measures. It challenges the validity of the rationale and the efficacy of masks and lockdowns. It asserts that the Government of Canada is violating our constitutional rights, and that the Covid response amounts to “a crime against humanity”.

The suit claims that deaths by lockdown outnumber deaths by Covid. By a factor of ten to one! The cure worse than the disease. The charges, if proven true, reveal that corruption runs deep and worldwide. Bill Gates is named in the suit. So are Prime Minister Trudeau and Dr. Bonnie Henry and others.

The dream I had this morning, it’s clear to me now that it was triggered by reading this legal document.

Is there a message my dream?

Yes! To wake up. To no longer ignore what’s going on. Those screams of helplessness, rage, and despair are my own.

No more waiting around for more courageous people to stand up and (at great risk to their careers) be counted. They are the heroes living their lives out on a limb. Most, like me, have remained quiet, trusting that the good guys are in charge. That they will save us. Well, how are we doing so far?

It’s enough to make a grown man scream.