I arrived home the other day, to find that, as my wife had her back turned, our ten month old son had quietly slipped the confines of his diaper, and was hanging in the breeze.

It should have been a moment of laughter, perhaps even a Kodak moment to embarass him with on the first date. But I definitely know better than to snap a picture (I know families who have had their children removed forever and had the brand of "sex offender" permanently stamped upon them for just such innocent snapshots), and my first response was fear. I was mortified, and terrorstruck as I considered that certain townsfolk who are essentially keeping files on us and everyone else with whom they disagree, might have seen the incident. As I was unable to make the mad dash across the yard to make the necessary corrections, I honked and pointed it out to my wife.

And then I thought, how sad is that?

How sad is it that innocence is forever lost in our quest towards a nanny state? How sad is it that a moment that should have been humourous, and WOULD have been so in another world not so long ago must be treated with horror and fear? And how sad is it that we must be ever mindful of our actions the minute we step outside our door (and even if we leave our curtains open...another sad fact is that someone's not considered a "peeping Tom" anymore if they have something to report)?

The more I live in this world, the more I almost wish I didn't. Fear, hate, and suspicion are our prevailing mindsets, even as we superficially clamour for love, peace, and acceptance. But I suppose, I can't change it so I might as well blog about it.