Censored

I am just now able to get on my blog.  WordPress is blocked here in this Asian Country.  A friend of mine told me how to get around the block.  At first I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working.  Was there something wrong with my Internet, or a glitch at WordPress?  Then my host told me:

“You can’t get on WordPress.  The government has blocked it.”

I was shocked. “Really? Why?” I asked.

“Because someone from the opposition party is using it.”

The government has blocked all of our WordPress blogs because someone from the opposition party uses it.  Crazy.  My little blog searching for beauty and messages in everyday life got swept up in this censorship.  My voice is silenced with countless others.  I know it is just a little thing, and I finally have found the way around it, but I had a little taste of what it is like to be silenced.  It didn’t feel good.  It made me mad.  Then it made me think of how many voices have been silenced. Images of heavy boots crushing wild flowers beneath them come to mind.  As the army passes, most of the flowers slowly spring back to life. Not all, some are too delicate and their stems are broken. The sound of traffic drowns out and silences the bird song. Yet, in the early morning before people start moving we are awakened to the chorus.

What is beautiful, what is good, what is lovely and sweet will endure.  It will lift up it’s head again and be seen and heard.  The voices that cannot yet be heard need others to step in for them, until they can find the strength to sing again. There are many who need this kind of advocacy. Who will be their voice?