Freedom needs constant vigilance

So …
By now you are thinking … has this guy flipped??

Is he a Right-winger or a screaming Left-winger?
But I passionately care about our freedom of speech
… and freedom of choice.
I’ll explain … I was recently on a trip … ‘up the road’
… to my native Scotland.
Well Edinburgh’s Nicholson Street to be precise.
On a rainy day in November 2009.
I was sat in a café awaiting the arrival of an old pal
… when an ‘auld biddy’
… ‘a wifey’
… came up and sat down at the adjacent table
… then unprompted
… she spontaneously unloaded on me as we were sipping from our cups.

“Youse young yins …!”
… she began (i.e. you young modern people)
“… ye huvnae goat a clue … so yuz huvnae …!!”
“… yuz are styoo-pit numpties!!”
(translation: ‘you young folks are a couple of cans light of a six-pack’)
Anyway enough vernacular …
The old lady explained that she was a young woman of 21 during World War 2 in 1944 … and how she felt alarmed that the younger Post-war generations are feeling increasingly far removed from it (W.W.2.).
The upshot of her ramblings (between sips from her cup) was that freedom is something we take for granted now … but her generation saw for themselves the horrors of fascism; the Warsaw Ghetto; Auschwitz etc.

She explained that freedom requires constant vigilance … and she said that she found it really sad how many young folk don’t value their freedom.
You are probably thinking
... ahh the dozy 86 yr old bat
... why is she not in the care home … singing Glen Miller songs … where she belongs rather than boring a stranger to death in a café.

What struck me about her was her rage as she spoke.
She still had fire in her belly.

Too many people nowadays couldn’t care less …
… the ‘who gives a shit’ mentality.
and that flippant apathy troubled her
... all these people who think that it is 'cool' to not have an opinion
... who don't care about the government ...

... she was very angry ...
… because she had witnessed the rise of Hitler first-hand … and she knew the dangers of fascism.