The irony of it all.

I got an email this week. From the New York Times. Inquiring. Why I had canceled my subscription. Since June 2012, I got delivery at my home in Minnesota. Mondays through Friday. Anyway, I was stunned. Because I hadn't canceled my subscription. I love the New York Times.  Dearly. Try to read the print version every day. Take it to bed. And to the dining table. Often go walking as I read the Times. Turns out my paper delivery guy noticed papers piling up. Three or four at a time. So he took it upon himself to email the Times and cancel my subscription. For me. A supposed favor. Because burglars might assume nobody’s home, and break in. Yes, I was away. On vacation. With my Italian true love. In Arizona. But I had arranged for a friend to collect my papers and mail every few days.  Wished the paper delivery guy had tended to his own business.  And left well enough alone. But this is a sign of the times. Especially in America. Everybody watching everybody. For security reasons. Often bogus. We are being over-protected.  From ourselves. I don’t like it. Here's another example. I was using other than my usual desk top computer on my trip. My email service provider, Hotmail, noticed. Hotmail refused me access to my own account. I was under suspicion as a hacker. For three weeks. Unable to convince Hotmail to let me back in. Funny, in a way. But I wasn’t laughing. I was furious. Yes, another example of  overzealous application of security procedures. To protect us all. From what?  I was being robbed all right. Of my usual convenient and easy access to my email. Robbed of my precious freedom, too. By people who want to protect me. From myself. Ironic, isn’t it? –Jim Broede