A FAIRY TALE – A Story of Undetermined Length – Part The Last

Now my children we will finish our tale. You all know our history, how we began as simple, almost animal like, creatures and how over the centuries we became what we even remain to be today. There were good times and bad times over those centuries. There were times of horror, times when we came close to destroying our home and ourselves. But there were also good times. Times of great joy and love and compassion between most of our kind.

Sadly, even in the best of times. there were those who's quest for power and control over all things was strong. As those of us who really believed that what was good and had been fought so hard to achieve could never be undone there was an undercurrent that was in all ways was an evil force that wanted only to control. That group of our kind grew in power and many followed them blindly believing that their way would be shared and that they also would have power and wealth.

As time passed they created great industries that produced those things we had been convinced that we could not live without. And we were all lulled into a dream like existence where things took precedence over just simply living and loving and caring for one another. And those industries brought great wealth to the few that developed them. Many of them had started as some simple effort that grew out of control. The more wealth they accumulated the more power they had. And the more power they had the more power they wanted. So those industries grew and with their growth came all the problems that we have learned now to avoid. Problems that polluted our world, our air, our water. Problems that progressively made our world not a place to live but only a place to try to survive.

Changes came over our world. As populations grew to support those industries we found that our community of beings had exceeded our ability to feed and care for every being. We found that our world had become so changed by what had been seen as progress that our world was becoming damaged beyond repair. Our days became hotter and the heat stayed throughout the nights. What little water there was and that had been shared before was now only safe to drink if chemicals were added to it. And, the impact on the health of all beings was great.

Finally, as some of us began to see that the changes were not reversible we began to look out to the stars in hopes of finding a new home where we could return to the simple lives we had lived so long ago. Most of the other beings called us deluded and foolish to believe that our world was now dying. But we continued and did manage to find a few places where we could live and thrive. Places like the one we now call Utopiana.

And so, with the aid of some who had accumulated great wealth and power but who saw what was happening, we developed great ships that could lift us to the stars and beyond.

Our time, we knew, was growing short but we managed to gather together and moved our selves and the things we knew we would need to build a new home into those great ships and on a day where people were being overcome by heat, where entire lands were being consumed by the melted cones of our once great world that helped provide the temperate climates we had thrived in, we boarded those ships and began our journey into an unknown but very hopeful future for all our kind.

As the days passed and we drew further from our once great home we were able to look back and watch as suddenly the atmosphere of that place seemed to begin to glow as if a great fire was raging. And, suddenly, that atmosphere seemed to collapse down upon our once great world and that world burst into a flame that could be seen for light years as our old home became nothing more that a cinder of dust and rock. Became another of those bodies adrift in space with no life and no ability to ever support life again. The tragedy that happened that day, the billions of lives that had chosen to stay behind only to be turned to the cosmic dust that they had originally been created from simply because they had believed that great wealth and power could solve any problem when those same problems had been created by that wealth and power...all was gone in what seemed only to be moments.

And that, my children, is what we call The End Of Times.

Now, you all know from your classes and the stories you have been told by your parents and grandparents, what happened next. How we finally arrived here and established the varied communities that all work together to provide for the whole and not only the few. How we established groups, led by our elders but welcoming the ideas of our youth, that would bring about the society we have today. A society where all are welcome, where the many openly embrace the few, where no being is an outcast made to feel they do not belong and all have an important place in the development of our society. And, most important, a place where there is no greed or need for power because all is shared by the entire community, all beings work at a skill that they enjoy and get pleasure from. We have growers and people who make the things we need. All is shared equally by all. There is not a need for wealth because we are all wealthy in that we have no needs that are not addressed by the companionship and compassion of our fellows.

And so, thus ends our Fairy Tale. A tale based our our history and our future. Be happy in these times of great joy and learn how easily that joy can be corrupted into something deadly. Be vigilant in your efforts to continue our communities. And most important, more so than anything else you may ever learn, be happy and at peace.

Now go to your homes and to those you call family. Embrace them and let them know that they are an important part of everything that is good in your lives.

A note about the writer: he is a 75 year old man who has lived through much of what this story is about. However, he is always an optimist about where humanity can go. The key being that they will only manage to overcome much of what has transpired over the past decade or so if they return to that point where love prevailed and build forward from there. He is, and was born, a Gay man who embraces all that is Queer. He was a liberal Democrat from day one and admits to having a strong socialist philosophy in the purest sense of what it means to be a socialist.