Wonderland Weekend: Dystopians Make Us Thankful

Wonderland Weekend is a feature on my blog where I pick a topic about how stories take us to "another world." Each month I have a new topic and will write about it every weekend of that month or just one or two weekends (whatever I feel like/have time for/can come up with). I would love for you to join me, so feel free to write about this topic at any time throughout the month and link it back to me - just have fun with it!

(These will usually be bookish posts but sometimes they'll be more discussiony)

November Topic: Since Thanksgiving is this month, November's topic will be thankfulness and anything that has to do with thanksgiving!

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Dystopians Make Us Thankful

Recently, we were having a class discussion in my College English class about dystopians, and that (of course) got me to thinking (since it is November) about how thankful I am that our world isn't like the dystopians present and popular in so many books. 

We were discussing how a dystopia is basically a Utopia gone wrong. In the pursuit of a perfect world, the leaders of dystopia's overlook a few majorly important factors about life in general.

~ Humans were created to have a mind of their own. We have our own thoughts, beliefs, opinions, ideas, and that is how God created us to be. If He wanted us to be like robots following the cruel whims of others, he would have made it so from the beginning!

~ We all have rights! A few "leaders" can't tell us what to say or believe because that goes against the first amendment - freedom of speech - but more than that we were created equally!

~ WE ARE ALL EQUAL! This should speak for itself!

~ We are meant to FEEL. From the emotions of hope and love to fear, empathy, and joy, and anger we are supposed to be able to feel it all.

~ Our Earth was created with all things necessary for life.

etc.

Dystopians should make us feel extremely thankful for our lives today, for the beautiful world we live in, for the Creator who made all things glorious!

In many dystopian societies, people are basically bound by iron chains and cloth gags to keep their opinions, thoughts, and beliefs to themselves, while they are ruled by German Nazi clones. They don't always have the resources necessary for survival. They lack the safety of a world without fear, and often they don't know what it feels like to not be scared for their lives during every waking moment. They are plagued by serious and deathly illnesses. They are not the hunters but the hunted. Their path is set out for them with no choice whatsoever in what they can or will do with their life.

Books that are dystopians make me so thankful for my faith in God and my family and friends. They make me grateful for our freedom of speech, religion, etc. that we have in the United States of America today, and those who have and continue to fight for our freedom. They make me even more appreciative of food, shelter, love, hope, joy, and education.

I'm so grateful for the opportunities that we have in our nondystopia world. We get to make our own choices, speak our mind, express out thoughts and opinions, help others. We get some choice in the path our futures will take. We get to follow our own pathways and not be forced onto roads we don't desire. We are able to make a difference!

This world may not be a Utopia (perfect world), but it's what we've been given, and face it - things could be a whole lot worse.

Let's be thankful we don't live in any of the dystopians we've read about because let's face it - that would be a complete nightmare. 

I, for one, am so thankful for the wonderful freedom I have to continue following God's plan for me!

What have dystopians made you thankful for?