This is a photo of me in October 2008 crossing the River Shannon in the Republic of Ireland.
I had always dreamed of traveling the world, and I actually got the opportunity back in 2008 to travel. I fell in love with the beauty, history, and awe-inspiring landscape of the Republic of Ireland.
My father had told me that once upon a time way back in our family’s history our roots had been deep in that land. Due to tragedy, suffering and fate (or destiny) our family ended up in Georgia sometime in the early part of the 1800’s.
It had been an honor to step foot on that soil and remember those family stories, and to remember those songs my father and his brothers would sing that hearkened back to those Irish roots.
It has been almost four months since I have written on this blog.
The past year and a half has done little to give me comfort in this life. If anything, all the saturation of fear mongering, threats of disease and death, isolation, quarantines, lockdowns, muzzling with masks, and the prohibition against basic human contact and interaction has been psychologically damning.
While we are allegedly allowed to go forth now and resume our lives with permission from the befuddled, baffled, and incompetent puppet-masters who have in one fell swoop managed to essentially destroy peoples’ lives, many people find it very, very difficult to just flip the switch and carry on as if nothing happened.
Well, something extremely vile, evil, and degrading did happen. Our freedom was ripped from us. Our sense of safety was ripped from us. Helpless and fearful is what the entire world was reduced to.
Just a few weeks ago, I was accosted in the World Market. I had lowered my muzzle (I mean mask) so that I could speak to a hearing-impaired family member. A store employee shamed me, repeatedly told me that they could bring me whatever it is I wanted to buy. Truth is I just wanted to be a normal person and shop.
Normal? Honestly, I don’t feel like life will ever get back to normal.
Although the muzzle (mask) mandate has been lifted (not entirely) in my state, I still see people wearing two masks. I see small children wearing masks.
Normal?
I had wanted to travel to Paris for my birthday this year, but I’ve decided that I just don’t feel like traveling anymore.
I don’t feel like doing much of anything, honestly.
It’s taking me awhile to get back to writing. I am trying to get back to some semblance of normalcy.
With writing and the cancel culture ramped up in full gear, I have become hesitant to even write, to even express myself anymore.
No, I am afraid that the damage has already been done to this world.
I am usually an optimist, but over the past year and a half I have lost my complete faith in society. Freedom was ripped from us; hardly anyone said anything. Everyone just goose-stepped in line, put on the muzzle (mask), shut up, avoided family and loved ones. The unquestioning compliance was absolutely disturbing. Debate was shut down and censored. This leaves me with no trust in society any longer.
I am not even sure why I am sharing my thoughts. I guess I still feel the human need to connect with others out there.
All I’ve ever wanted to do was to be happy, to help others, and to write my novels, short stories, and poetry.
And travel.
But, I will never, ever cover my mouth with a muzzle again. I am a human being and I will never again let anyone tell me to wear a muzzle as if I am an animal to be silenced.. If wearing a muzzle on an aircraft, train, bus requires me to muzzle like an animal, then I guess I will just drive my car.
I will skip Europe and any other place.
Well, I’ve had my say.
This is how I feel and honestly I couldn’t care less if anyone agrees with me.
I am hurt by the fear, the anxiety, and the uncertainty the puppet-masters inflicted on me and the rest of the world in this past year and a half.
People are celebrating in some places and cheering the “return to normalcy.”
I do not believe we will ever return to normalcy.
The damage has been done.
I am trying to rebound from it.
Only my faith in Jesus Christ will get me through this.
Pray for me. I pray for us all.
Jenny W. Andrews Copyright 2021
Jenny Grace's Poetry and Creative Writing Techniques 
I feel for you. I moved a year ago this month from a state with lax rules about distancing and masks to a state even more lax about it. I wore the mask where they said to. It was at a point when most places required masks when I actually caught the virus. Now our mask mandates are mostly gone. Good riddance.
I heard on the news throughout the pandemic that people were now “allowed to go outside without masks.” We didn’t have to deal with that, thank God. I couldn’t even imagine that level of fear mongering and oversight. Why would people be deprived of sunlight and fresh air? There was and is a lot of speculation masquerading as science, and Fauci even admitted to “moving the goalposts” a while back. People were all too eager to give up their rights before they even knew what they were fighting. Obviously it’s a real virus but it was handled poorly. Shutdowns were not the answer. Fear was not nor ever will be the answer.
Great to see you back, just wish it were for a more pleasant reason. I’ll certainly keep you in my prayers. It is that same Lord Jesus who Paul wrote of to Timothy when he said:
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
II Timothy 1:7 (the thesis statement of chapter 1)
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Thank you so much for reading my blog and understanding how I feel about this issue. I totally agree that this whole crisis was handled extremely poorly. Unfortunately, innocent people suffered, and in some cases died. I am so happy to hear that you recovered from COVID.
II Timothy 1:7 sustains me through a lot of struggles. God has given us a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. Thank you for reminding me of that verse.
Blessings to you always.
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It was amazing to watch. People not only mindlessly embraced the stripping away of their God-given rights, many cheered it on.
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That was the frightening part-the manner in which people just mindlessly complied. If you voiced any opposition you were labeled as a conspiracy theorist. In all my life I have never witnessed such blind obedience. I am afraid to consider just how far people might go in complying. History is chock-full of those events where people just blindly followed rules laid down by leaders and “experts.” It never, ever ends well.
Thank you for reading.
God’s blessings to you always.
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