A trip to Fictionland

As a child, I was drawn to the character Blue in Pokemon. To me, he was more than just a character....He seemed so real!

Blue

 He interested me so much that I thought of my own story about him:

In my Pokemon world, Blue is a talented trainer who becomes the champion, but soon loses to Red and then becomes the Viridian City gym leader. He starts out selfish and arrogant, but changes after his experiences....He loses to Red because love defeats raw power.

In his quest for power, Blue seeks the legendary Articuno at the Seafoam Islands. Yet he doesn't prepare for the journey properly, and he nearly dies by freezing in the icy mountains. Then Articuno appears and saves his life, bringing him to Cinnabar Island. That is when Blue begins to realize Pokemon are more than tools of battle....

Articuno

Then he meets Missingno, who almost destroys the world by glitching reality into a chaotic mess. With help from Red and later Crystal, Blue defeats Missingno, symbolizing the defeat of corruption within his own heart. Then, one day, Blue meets Mew, the last Pokemon to fill the Kanto Pokedex...signifying that his heart is finally pure.

Mew

Over time, Blue becomes more quiet, thoughtful, and mysterious, yet without losing his inherent strength. Still adventurous at heart, he spends much of his time away from the gym to explore and do research. He's independent, a bit of a loner, and drawn to rare Pokemon.

Crystal is another character in my Pokemon world who grows up in Violet City and attends Earl's Pokemon Academy. She has great talent as a trainer, but the other children shun her because she keeps defeating them in Pokemon battles. Earl favors her because she is a quiet, serious, and intelligent student.

Crystal

Then a boy named Lynn moves to New Bark Town and starts attending the academy. He befriends Crystal and also shows promising potential as a trainer. Lynn moved with his mother and younger sister from Ecruteak. His parents divorced because of his father's gambling problem. Originally the family lived in Celadon City. They moved to Johto for a fresh start, but the father's gambling continued in Goldenrod.

By the time Lynn turns ten years old, old enough to become a Pokemon trainer, family problems lead him to move in with his father, who heads back to Kanto. So, Lynn starts his Pokemon journey in Kanto, while Crystal's takes place in Johto. Lynn's little sister stays in New Bark Town.

Crystal becomes the Johto champion, thwarts Team Rocket's attempted comeback, and later becomes a Pokemon professor after Lynn's death in the magnet train crash. She also helps Blue defeat Missingno. Eventually she marries Faulkner, leader of the Violet City gym.

At one point I planned to develop these ideas into a long fanfic, but then my interest in Pokemon waned.

Yet even now, I wonder why fictional characters seem so real to me. Why do I often find them more interesting and somehow more pure than real people? Why do I often prefer the company of imaginary people to real ones?

Real people are all too often rude, selfish, fake, and shallow. In fiction, there are men like Jean Valjean and women like Stargirl. People like this simply aren't to be found in reality.

Stargirl

In real life, people wear deceitful masks. In fiction, characters simply are who they are. Sometimes I feel as if I belong in the land of fiction more than I belong in this rough and dark world.

Judge not, lest ye be judged

Though I no longer struggle with anorexia, from time to time I come across journal entries I wrote during that time in my life and feel they're worth sharing, for anyone else who happens to be going through an anorexic phase:

Lord, thank You for never forsaking me. Now is one of those times I need You most. You know I am a sinner and a hypocrite...because in the past, I judged people with anorexia as simply selfish and narcissistic. Now I am a bit more understanding, since I'm struggling myself...though I still believe pride and a self-absorbed mindset definitely contribute. Lord, You know I am selfish and proud; change my heart....

The root of this affliction involves feeling unseen and unloved - starving for love, a common problem these days. This society is so isolating, and I have even been forsaken by most of my family. Since my personality is a bit offbeat, I have difficulty relating to others...so the most I can hope for is to be noticed from a distance, because others don't seem to be interested in loving me intimately.

***

These days I have an entirely new set of problems that don't involve anorexia. Yet this entry serves as a reminder of God's grace, and the conviction not to be so quick to judge others. We don't know what battles they're fighting.

5G, blockchain, and you

Many questions have arisen since the World Health Organization declared a worldwide public health emergency on January 30, 2020. Where did COVID-19 originate? How long will it take to "flatten the curve?" Are ubiquitous lockdowns necessary or effective for an ailment that has a 99% recovery rate? And perhaps most perplexingly, why did the World Economic Forum host Event 201 in October 2019 - a simulated pandemic exercise that eerily followed the real coronavirus narrative, complete with stuffed souvenir microbes?

So far, none of these questions have been sufficiently answered. Yet as the narrative goes on, the picture of the "new normal" we've been ushered into gradually becomes clearer.

Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, sees coronavirus as the catalyst for the "Great Reset" and the "fourth industrial revolution." According to him, "The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world." He seems excited, but what will that "reset" mean for us?

Schwab proposes to "build back better" using technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, 3D printing, and nanotechnology - which are supposed to be more "sustainable" than current technologies. The World Economic Forum has also toyed with the idea of universal basic income to fix economic issues caused by the coronavirus lockdowns.

Soon after Event 201 seemed to go live, skeptics of the official narrative speculated about a possible link between the pandemic and 5G technology, which was deemed "essential" and continued to be installed during the lockdowns. Official news sources claimed the virus originated in Wuhan, China - where, of all places, 5G was among the first to launch in November 2019.

Like mRNA vaccines, health effects of radiation in the 5G range haven't been tested, and many citizens have been protesting its installation. However, thousands of peer reviewed studies have confirmed deleterious effects of existing wireless frequencies, ranging from tinnitus in some people to life-threatening arrhythmias in others, so there is reason to believe that 5G can cause similar problems. Indeed, the symptoms of microwave sickness vary as widely as symptoms of COVID-19.

Despite mainstream news sources systematically ridiculing anyone who says "coronavirus" and "5G" in the same sentence, there is no disputing the fact that 5G forms the infrastructure of the fourth industrial revolution - namely AI and the IoT. With the rollout of vaccine passports, yet another one of 5G's raisons d’etre becomes apparent; every passport holder is assigned a blockchain code that broadcasts his or her mRNA injection status. These codes could be easily expanded to contain other personal information as well, such as one's social security number, banking information, and current location. A biometric digital ID - like ID2020, for instance - would essentially connect everyone to the IoT.

If all of this sounds a bit far-fetched, scan your vaccine passport and take a trip to China. Virtually every item there is marked with a blockchain code, which allows for cashless payments by scanning the code with a cell phone - or, disturbingly, by scanning your face, which is stored in a vast AI database and recognized by every camera you pass by in the street and in commercial buildings.

Once you're assigned a digital ID, your data is collected at all times - where you go, what you buy, whether you've been "bad" or "good" - and this data can be used for a variety of purposes, from selling your information to advertisers, to informing law enforcement of your daily routine, to assigning you a social credit score.

So, there you have it - a method of surveillance that surpasses Orwell's wildest nightmares. The vaccine passport is your ticket to a brave new technocracy.

***

This article was originally published at The Activist Post.

Let there be love

Lord, please teach me about agape love.

May this not just be intellectual knowledge, but experience. Let my life and my character be defined by agape love. Let this love be the basis of all I do, my only motivation.

Love has always seemed mysterious to me. Like the vastness of the world, I have never been able to fully comprehend love. The only way I know is to consider Jesus Christ.

Father, make me Christlike; I ask sincerely, though my simple mind can't fully understand what that means.