"Farewell to Freedom", That's what the hackers of the new age posted on my computer just before the Internet police zapped them out of existence. All those lives lost and for what? Who would be next? Did the World-Wide Government plant a reverse tracer when the Freedom Fighters broadcast before the connection was interrupted? Are Web Detectives even now tracing the signals and hunting down innocent victims? Will my baby and I be next?

Noooooooooooooo! Please Nooooo! Is that the sound of boots in the hallway? Muffled voices? Soldiers with guns? Men in armor? Please, don't let that be them outside my door. My hand covers my baby's mouth to silence any chance that he might cry out. Is the New World Government here to punish my child and me for simply wanting to be free again? We were merely listening to a broadcast from the Freedom Fighters. Will they steal our rights because we were trying to learn what the world used to be like, before, the Internet Service Providers took over?

January 1, 2000 signaled the end of the world. Oh, not in the way most people expected. Many had feared some type of cataclysmic event that would end the world, but that never happened. Others feared Armageddon, a nuclear war that would wipe mankind off the face of the earth and that never happened either. No, but perhaps it would have been better if it had been that way. Other people had suggested that a massive computer problem called Y2K would crash the world's computers, perhaps causing a world-wide economic collapse, but that didn't happen either. And yet, these people were almost right. If they had only used their imaginations to try to foresee the future, they could have changed the world for the better but when the signal came, no one was listening. The computer changed the world, but because the people weren't paying attention, a computer company was able to destroy it.

On January 1, 2000, Big Brother was launched. That's what they called themselves back then: "Big Brother", the new computer service that promised to change the world. They launched their service with commercials on every TV network around the world. It was D-Day, or as we call it now, Doomsday - the day the world began to die.

When Big Brother promised worldwide access to the Internet, no one questioned the motives. When Big Brother bought up the competition, everyone thought it was great because they would get improved service. When Big Brother offered free Internet Service, no one imagined that within ten years, Big Brother would be the largest company in the world. When they added telephone service to their venue, no one considered that they were quickly becoming the largest source of communications in the world. And when Big Brother became the largest advertiser on all the national news programs, no one considered the fact that, with no one left to speak against them, they could influence elections and within a few more years, they would control the world.

How much different our world is today from the world of just fifteen or twenty years ago. Just imagine, in 1999 Big Brother did not even exist, that "real" freedom of speech around the world lasted only ten years. Prior to 1990 people "believed" they had freedom of speech. But that was an illusion, an illusion that only those who wanted to hide from the truth believed. While people were free to speak their mind in public, they were denied access to the media by the big companies that owned it. Some stories were run, but only the stories the big companies wanted aired.stories that made a profit. Bad news was placed on the front pages of the newspapers, while good news was generally left on the back page. Sex and violence were the word of the day on TV, while stories about efforts to save the lives of children were cut to make more room for commercials.

How naive were the people in the 1980's, not to realize that most of the TV stations they watched, radio stations they listened to, and newspapers they read were all owned by just a few big companies. These "businesses", while often pretending to compete, were all actually owned by the same people. If an ordinary citizen approached them and said, "I have some good news for you to share", they would be turned down unless the company could find a way to make a profit from it. If another citizen contacted them and said, "I need you to run a message that could help save lives", the companies that owned the media promised to get back to them, and but never did.

The people in the 1980's believed they had freedom of speech, until the 1990's, when they, for the first time in the history of the world, experienced true freedom of speech on a global scale. They did not have freedom of speech on TV. They did not have freedom of speech in the newspapers, and they did not have freedom of speech on the radio. But they did have freedom of speech somewhere else, someplace new and wonderful, a place where everyone was able to choose whom they listened to and if someone had something good to say, millions of people had the freedom to listen. This place was called the Internet. Imagine millions of people around the world working together, some of them even trying to change the world! To the children of today, those people are considered heroes. Legends are told about how they tried to unite the world to save the children. Like the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, they looked forward to exploring this New World. And explore they did, until Big Brother decided to crush them. The groups formed an alliance of sorts. There was an unspoken agreement that they would stand "United" with "Pride", that they would "exchange" ideas and fight like the "Knights" of the Round Table, and they promised that if they were attacked, they would rise like a "Phoenix" to make the world free for all. I wonder how many of them realized at the time that these organizations would someday come together to become the Freedom Fighters. Not many imagined that the people who were part of these organizations would become the "Parents" of those who became mankind's last hope. How many people were paying attention when one day Big Brother shut down all these good people and their mailing lists and replaced them with Big Brother newsletters, advertising, and propaganda, in an effort to silence the only voices that questioned Big Brother's motives?

More noise outside, but I think it's all right this time. I hear children laughing. The laughter of children is music to my ears. It means the New World government hasn't yet taken away all of the happiness. None of people who lived in the 1990's could have imagined that they would have a child like me, or a grandson like Teddy. I named Teddy after an urban legend, in a moment of mirth. This legend is now illegal to tell. The story is about a man in a Teddy Bear costume who rode a galloping horse in front of the White House yelling, "Big Brother is coming. Big Brother is coming." He was followed by dozens of people dressed in suits of armor, like the Knights of Old. I know the legend probably isn't true, especially the part about him being dressed in a Teddy Bear costume, but for some reason, the story still inspired me to name my own son Teddy, in honor of a man and his followers who probably never existed. Or if he did, he may have been some kind of fruitcake.

Teddy is a child who has never known freedom. This child will grow up in a world without freedom, where the average person is a slave to the New World government. This is a government that has increased our tax rate so many times that half the world is on the verge of becoming homeless. This is a world where children go hungry, a world where there is little happiness except for the rich, and where there is no freedom. In this world, we are all virtually slaves to the world's largest company, one which has to gain control of most existing governments. So, how did it come to this? How did Big Brother manage to gain control of the world?

Big Brother pronounced themselves the answer to everyone's problems. They offered free services, such as games, e-mail, web sites and much more. Everyone thought it was great that one company could do so much for so many. They were so grateful that they hardly ever complained about all the advertising. Soon Big Brother began to take over one competitor after another, but still no one complained. So what if they had to put up with advertising. Big Brother was offering better service and it was free. Big Brother soon grew to be the biggest company in the world. Instead of a few million members like it's predecessors, Big Brother grew until it had BILLIONS of members. It became the largest source of advertising in the world. And it charged advertisers like there was no tomorrow.

Big Brother soon expanded into other services: financial, phone services, retail sales, and many more. Everyone was happy. Big Brother was a success. Big Brother was helping to bring the world together. People were amazed how Big Brother was everywhere. Big Brother was the largest source of news in the world for billions of people. Even on the TV news there were advertisements for Big Brother. People never understood that by becoming the largest advertiser, Big Brother had also become the biggest influence on which stories were aired on the news and which ones weren't. The people didn't notice when Big Brother began to slant the news in favor of one political candidate over another. No one realized that the number of politicians on the Big Brother payroll was rising. They did not see that Big Brother was using its power and influence to convince people around the world to vote for certain candidates and against others. Big Brother never said anything bad about anyone, it simply didn't pass on the good news about those who weren't playing ball. Eventually, politicians began to understand the game. If they became friends with Big Brother, their chances of being elected were greatly enhanced. Soon, politicians were standing in line to say good things about Big Brother. And of course, anyone who criticized Big Brother had the freedom of speech, but not the freedom to broadcast that speech around the world unless Big Brother allowed it.

Big Brother became not only the wealthiest company in the world, but also the most politically powerful. Soon there were presidents around the world who owed Big Brother a favor, and things began to change. If Big Brother wanted something, it wanted it now, and politicians were prone to run at Big Brother's bidding. Television networks, radio stations and newspapers were soon bought up by Big Brother and it became the only source of news in the world. People were being told how they should think, how they should live their lives. Big Brother was in charge.

Today, Big Brother owns the world and most of the world governments. If you speak against Big Brother you are refused Internet service by Big Brother, you are blackballed from employment from any company that advertises with Big Brother, and sooner or later you have to worry that the Internet police will come after you.

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! It's them. They are pounding on the door. It's Big Brother. The Internet police have come for my child and me. They are bashing my front door with a battering ram. I only wish that my parents had paid more attention back in the year 2000, then maybe none of this would have happened. But it's too late now. I hear the Internet police cocking their weapons, and now I understand what the Freedom Fighters meant when they said that the people waited too long to stand up for themselves. Now I understand why the last Freedom Fighter said, "Farewell to Freedom".

Now see the sequel to the "End of the World"

" Hope for the Future"