A children's tale for adults
Once upon a
time, there were some invisible little red balls, so little that no one saw
them and much less cared for them, but one night, while everyone slept peacefully,
these balls gathered and maliciously conspired to kill the entire population of
the Earth. They drew up a plan, prepared themselves and put the plan into
practice. But fortunately, and for everyone's sake, there were some very clever
masters who mistrusted the little balls and through special devices and studies
discovered the conspiracy and alerted the entire population of the earth.
It was a
pandemonium (or pandemic as some called it).
In large
speakers the wise masters warned the entire population of the imminence of
danger and immediately revealed what would have to be done to contain the
invasion. Any sacrifice would be worthwhile to avoid such great harm. The
little balls were already in the air, people were falling dead on the street, hospitals
were filling up and others were built in a hurry. It was necessary to close
entire cities and lock people at home. Nothing was more important than that,
not even going to work, or going to school, or having meetings of any kind not
even visiting relatives or friends, or doing the normal things you do to help
and support others. No, all the care was necessary to avoid a much greater
evil.
The elderly
who lived in homes were abandoned and left on their own because, after all,
what’s a useless old man compared to many other young useful people who could
be saved? The wise masters warned that all the care would be little and decreed
(for everyone's sake) that the children should stay at home and avoid at all
costs play with other children, they would have to spend the time the best they
could (after all there was always the TV or online games and other fun things
to do). Adults could only go out in the event of a dire necessity, but always
with a rag on their face to hide them from the little red balls floating in the
air.
Soon 3
weeks of total isolation were decreed. Everyone was warned to stock food and lock
themselves at home for 3 weeks and with the promise that they would soon return
to normal life. The trips were suspended, the streets were empty, the stores
and factories were closed and the air became cleaner, the blue of the sky
became bluer and the white of the clouds became whiter. Wild animals were seen
walking freely on the deserted streets. It was a beautiful time, but when it
was over, the animals returned to the forest, the pollution returned to the
streets, and the threat remained.
At the end
of one year of worldwide emergency situation nothing had changed. According to
the wise masters the invisible balls remained and now they were even smarter than
before, because they had learned from humans and had become more aggressive and
treacherous, and even laughed at us as if it were a big joke. The wise masters,
who knew everything the balls were up to, warned the population that those were
preparing a second and third invasion, since the first one had not had the desired
effect of killing some like seventy million people as had been planned.
But the
population began to show signs of tiredness after so many months of running
away and hiding from invisible little balls. In addition, a certain confusion and
doubt was also born in the minds of the citizens, since the freedoms, rights and
privileges that the wise masters had once defended as a fundamental right of every
citizen were now being taken away by these same masters. This confusion created
crises that could even cause other major problems. Yet the population still waited
patiently and believed that soon everything would be restored to normal.
However, the
wise masters did not stop at anything in their efforts because only they knew
the real danger the world was in. They had speakers placed every 100 meters on
the streets to keep the people abreast of all the attacks of the little balls
and the victims they were continually making. This action, besides keeping the
population informed, was mainly intended to make it impossible for people
forget for one second of the danger they were in and to make the most frivolous
and irresponsible take note and learn to fear for their own lives. All sacrifices
were valid.
Special
services were recruited to ensure that the population strictly obeyed the rules
wisely imposed, and encouraged the most faithful to denounce the most frivolous
who by their carelessness continually endangered the lives of the rest. They
further decreed that everything possible should be done to prevent the rebels
and discontented from talking to each other or, even worse, from misleading
those who were already faithfully following the instructions given by the masters
who only looked after the health of everyone.
And in
their always kind and paternalistic interest for others, the wise masters consoled
the population by explaining that they were working hard to prepare a magic
potion capable of neutralizing the attacks of the invisible little balls. This
magic potion would be obligatorily given to every person on the planet and those
who refused would be confined to certain isolated places, or re-educated in
special institutions that were already prudently being prepared.
The wise
plan was to create a stronger human race immune to this and all other attacks
on its health. This would probably require the sacrifice of the lives of many
unhappy people, but it would be nothing more than a natural selection process
of the race in which only the strongest and most capable would remain to inherit
a glorious and superb world.
Epilogue:
How will
this story end? Will the “intelligent masters” be able to carry out their evil intent this
time? I think a lot will depend on all of us. I, however, definitely believe
that the story will end as well as it possibly can, otherwise I would not be wasting
my time writing this here.
The “intelligent masters” in their careful plans have not taken into consideration the infinite power of the human's free will and this will be their downfall.
