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There was a time
when the road belonged to us.
You could disappear
into the rhythm of your own footsteps,
walk beneath the trees,
feel the wind against your face,
and know
that the only witness
was the evening sky.
Now…
There is always an eye.
An eye on the traffic light.
An eye on the telephone pole.
An eye above the intersection.
An eye outside the school.
An eye outside the store.
An eye outside the bank.
An eye outside your neighborhood.
An eye that never blinks.
An eye that never sleeps.
You don’t see them all.
But they see you.
Every turn.
Every stop.
Every destination.
Every familiar road.
Every ordinary Tuesday.
Every quiet Sunday afternoon.
Even the neighborhoods
where nothing ever happens,
where children still ride bicycles,
where neighbors wave from their porches,
where peace once needed no witness—
now stand beneath
a silent mechanical gaze.
Surveillance here.
Surveillance there.
Surveillance on the corner.
Surveillance down the street.
Surveillance above the crosswalk.
Surveillance at the intersection.
Surveillance…
Everywhere.
We were told
it was for safety.
A little camera here.
Another there.
Just one more
to protect the public.
Then another.
Then another.
Until the exceptions
became the landscape.
You no longer notice them.
Because they have become
part of the skyline.
Steel poles.
Glass lenses.
Silent observers
standing like monuments
to a world
that forgot
what privacy felt like.
You cannot drive
without becoming data.
You cannot walk
without becoming footage.
You cannot pause
without becoming a timestamp.
You cannot exist
without leaving
another digital shadow.
Someone,
somewhere,
can rewind your day
frame by frame.
Not because you committed a crime.
Not because you threatened anyone.
Simply because…
you exist.
Freedom was never only
about our rights.
It was also about the right
to walk unnoticed.
To wander without explanation.
To exist
without constant observation.
To have moments
that belonged
only to yourself.
Now the cameras rise
higher than the trees,
watching from the sky.
They watch from poles.
They watch from buildings.
They watch from parking lots.
They watch from highways.
They watch from intersections.
One becomes ten.
Ten become hundreds.
Hundreds become thousands.
Thousands become millions.
Until they are everywhere.
Until every road
begins to feel
like a hallway
inside an invisible prison.
The strangest part…
is how quietly it happened.
No alarms.
No sirens.
No chains.
Just another camera.
Then another.
Then another.
Until an entire generation
grew up believing
that being watched
was simply
the price of living.
But somewhere
deep inside the human soul,
there remains
a quiet voice
that still remembers
what it felt like
to be alone…
without ever feeling watched.
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Ugh! Just the thought of how much of a reality this has become just during my lifetime is depressing. When we were kids we played “kick the can” and we were certain that no one was watching us as we liked to make our favorite places to hide a secret. Our society has become more crime ridden which is a reason (excuse?) to have “the eye in the sky” but there are the issues of privacy and freedom as well. It would be nice to go back to the early 1960s’ and have a “do over” and see if we could hold society together better so that the crime and the cameras would go back to a time when they weren’t such a concern. Sadly, I don’t think we would have done any better given a “do over” but I hope I’m wrong.
Thank you for sharing this, John. It speaks of the reality we are dealing with now. I, for one, am not going to change what I do because of cameras but if it ever gets as bad as I understand it is in China we will have lost a great deal of privacy.
You’re very welcome, Chris.
I think many people who grew up before the digital age can relate to what you just described. There was a different sense of freedom when our lives weren’t constantly connected to technology, and most of us never imagined how quickly things would change over the course of a single lifetime. Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s was certainly much different than growing up today.
Like you, I don’t believe we should live in fear or stop living our lives because technology exists. At the same time, I do believe it’s important for people to understand how these systems work and to have an open conversation about where the balance should lie between public safety, privacy, and personal freedom. I also think people need to start standing up for those freedoms before we find ourselves facing an even greater imbalance between the individual and an increasingly bullying Big Brother.
Thank you again for reading the poem and for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment, Chris. I hope you have a great night and a great week ahead. 😎
You’re welcome, John, and thank you for taking the time to write me a reply. I am very glad you are writing articles about things like this. It is very important for people to understand this issue and the problems it could cause. Most people don’t need someone looking over their shoulder a good amount of the time and these things need to be discussed and thought out before moving ahead with any cavalier program that reduces privacy.
Thank you again, John, and I hope you have a great week ahead as well!😊
Yes, this is excellent. “The eye that never blinks.” We cannot put this pandora back in the box either.
Thank you very much, Sheila.
I greatly appreciate that. I think you’re right. Once a technology becomes woven into everyday life, it is incredibly difficult to reverse course. That’s part of what inspired the poem—not to argue against technology itself, because technology is simply a tool. Ultimately, it is people who decide how that technology is used, implemented, and expanded. We also have to be honest with ourselves because, as a society, we accepted much of it without fully considering what it would eventually become.
Thank you again for reading and for taking the time to comment, Sheila. I hope you have a great night and a great week ahead. 😎
Good poem and so true.
Thank you very much, Michael.
I greatly appreciate that. Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great night and a great week ahead. 😎