“Once expanded by new awareness, the human mind cannot revert back to its previous state of ignorance – this is what the great awakening is all about.” – Chautauqua

It was just last week that I found myself heading to the town of Santa Rosa, Ca. with my business partner and his wife; on a  mission of running a couple errands then having dinner out.  Our final stop before dinner was at a neighborhood green cross dispensary.  It’s just after dusk, and the sky hasn’t yet gone full dark.  As we neared the building our attention was drawn by an unusual mechanical sound originating from behind, and above  us. We turned as one to look, and sure enough hovering just above the street was a police drone.  Watching US!

It was one of those quad-copter designs and as we watched it I could tell whoever was flying it was no rookie pilot.  Maintaining a perfect hover 70 feet from the dispensary in near darkness gave all of us a weird Orwellian kind of feeling.  We continued on about  our business, relegating the sighting to the subconscious mind for a while.

After dinner, my business partner went to fetch the car as I entertained his wife with my stellar wit in front of the parking structure.  We were standing about a quarter block from a main intersection…and we heard the drone again.  This time it was flying slowly directly above the north-south city street, as if it was following a specific car.  Some 30 seconds later a police cruiser rolled calmly down the same street, following the drone, evidently with the pilot inside.

When we first saw the drone I had the thought of grabbing my phone and taping the encounter, since it was my first; but then my brain served up a slide show of recent stories where doing so hasn’t ended well for free speech.  Suddenly my mind is telling me things like the lighting sucks, and filming the drone might expose my friends to harm, at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve.  So I chose not to film the drone, but the process of reaching that decision gnawed at my subconscious like hungry grizzly bear. Continue reading →