While looking at the news last night, a segment on the upheaval in Iran caught my attention. It has caused further thought on something I've been thinking about over the past few months and that is the Internet and its impact on people. I composed a poem which was just posted on another website, and I give it below. As Mary Baker Eddy says, we know when Truth first leads because of the fewness and faithfulness of its followers. My paraphrase of her words. And the events in Iran and China bear this out.
"Truth will out"
(c) By: Sharon Slaton Howell
Of late,
Two things of interest great
Have been turning over
In my mind:
Is the Internet a gift divine,
And can it bring people freedom?
In the yes/no column
I would have to mark
A big black "yes".
In how many ways
Does this invention bless.
Just take China and Iran
For two illustrations -
How would I,
Sitting safe and free
In my own living room
Learn the full extent
of the gloom,
The arrests, the evil acts
That tyrants do
To bottle up vital information,
To self-expression quell,
To make the rest of us think
Things in their domains are well?
Never mind the lesser ways
You and I possess
To post our thoughts dear
(Not always mind-blowing,
In my case, I must confess,
From politicians in the USA
Who have hoped to
Direct communications' flow,
To keep facts in that
Need to come out,
To countries around the globe
Whose citizens are determined,
Whatever the cost, to be free,
To say what they think is right,
I say, a rsounding shout
Of thank God, the Net is here.
