It Was the Year 59 A.G.F. Part 1 of 2

[Rishi]

It was the Year 59 A.G.F.
Part 1 of 2

Nineteen warm bodies clad in an odd assortment of tattered clothes, huddled around a campfire, the night breeze swirling the flames in orange pirouettes. Behind them were the rusted hulks of what they used to call "vehicles" in the Before Time...a "Ford Ranger" flatbed truck, it's windshield completely broken out, and the dashboard now a "planter" for a variety of flowering weeds. Another mass of faded paint and twisted metal, whose passenger side door had been ripped completely off in some violent collision, still had a barely legible label on it which read, "Econoline van". These two enigmas of a former time, which few really understood any more, served to block the wind from the discussion which now took place.

The stench of bodies lying dead on highways, in ransacked homes and upon streets the world over, had passed in the wind. The choking fumes of burnt plastic and various other toxic materials, was becoming but a tale to be told, to children too young to remember what was now called, "The Great Fall".

An old woman with an intense stare gazed off through the fire, as if she were using it as a crystal ball to See the spirit world. She was the only one of the nineteen who wore hand woven clothes, of a simple purple dye and pattern. Fifteen adults and three children patiently waited for her speak again, for she sometimes took long pauses to contemplate memories of times past. A child of six suddenly broke the silence, as children often do, and said, "Tell us again about the Before Time, Grandma!". The woman beside her, embarrased by this display, reprimanded in a loud whisper..."Hush now Marina! Be patient, and you don't call her 'grandma' during the time of the Storytelling, address her respectfully as "Elder". "Yes mommy" the child replied softly, staring at the ground poking a stick at the dirt in little circles.

"So you want to hear again about the Before Time, do you?", the old woman asked with raised eyebrows, showing a mixture of grave seriousness and amusement. "Yes Elder!" piped the child. "Don't you ever get tired of that story?" "Oh no!", "No way!" "Please tell us again!" all three children said in unison. "Very well then, move closer so I don't have to yell the tale over the wind." So everyone moved closer to that side of the fire. The adults were as focused and interested in hearing this story as the children were, for the old woman, who called herself, "Heroditus" was one of the few people left, who was actually alive during the Before Time. She was old, but even so, only a little girl during that period in history. An intense fascination for history was now considered normal, and yet, no one of this local Tribe knew for sure what year it was by the old calendar. Some said it was the year 2073 AD by that reckoning, others simply referred to it in more "modern" terms as 59 AGF, or in other words, the 59th year After the Great Fall. The place was what was once called, "Northern California".

Heroditus said, "Although there are those of other Tribes in this area who glorify that dark time in our past, wishing again for the 'luxuries' of that world, they are but fools. The reason we study history is to learn from it and grow beyond it, in order to become true Human Beings. That time of great cities which used to stretch for miles in all directions, of "highways" and "jumbo jets" and "supermarkets" and "genetic engineering" is nothing to long for. It was a time of great madness, when our kind had lost it's soul.

"What's a 'supermarket' grand-, I mean Elder"? asked Marina. "Shussh!" her mother cautioned, frowning. But Heroditus looked at her daughter saying, "It's ok, questions flow from alert minds". Turning to the child, she said, "A supermarket, honey, was a large building where people used to go to get their food".
"Why'd they do that when they coulda just growed it for themselves?"
"Well some did, but most just grew grass in their lawns, only to have to keep cutting it down every week".
"What good is growing grass only to cut it down every week?" the child asked.
"It really isn't any good for much of anything except to waste water and fertilizer, honey. But as a matter of fact, the people of those times wasted just about everything".
"Why'd they do that?"
"Because", the Elder replied, "they were mad little buggers".
Everyone chuckled, because Heroditus always called the people of the Before Time, "mad little buggers" especially just before she'd tell a very passionate tale of that dark period in human history.

"So as I was saying, it was a time of great madness, when our kind had lost its' soul. It was a time when there was very little respect for anything at all, when we lived apart from nature and actually strongly resented it as an enemy to be subdued. Plants were just "things"...either decorations or nuisances to be hacked on, whole forests were wiped out all over the world for the sake of profit, the rainforests were basically gone. Animals were just "pets" or meals to be grown in cages where they could barely even move, and where they were often fed the ground-up dead remains of their own kind to "save money".
"Money?" asked another child, "What's that"?
"Money used to be how they lived their lives, dear", said her mother quietly, taking a small, darkly tarnished piece of metal out of her pocket and handing it to the child.
"But I thought this was called a "quarter", replied the boy.
"Yes dear, it was called that too, now listen".

Heroditus continued. "The Before Time was a time when the once noble human being, was made into what is basically just a greedy, sloppy pig, feeding at a trough. They even called themselves, "consumers" and that was the one thing they were truly good at. They weren't much good at living peacefully with one another, nor in living naturally or simply, or in being wise. They weren't much good at living with each other in what they used to call "nations"...there was always multiple wars and armed conflicts raging all over the globe, in every day of every year. They weren't much good at being efficient or practical, in fact, most scoffed at those concepts. Marriage was usually just a financial agreement, not a dedication to love. And although there were many who called themselves, 'spiritual' the vast majority of those were just hypocrites, who said one thing, only to live the exact opposite in every day of their lives. They had governments so corrupt that political positions were often sold to the highest bidder or campaign contributor, where Senators were actually corporate henchmen, having nothing at all to do with observing the will of the people they supposedly governed. They built great prisons, but lousy schools. They had huge militaries, but a run down system of roads, bridges and public utilities. Oceans and rivers were just dumping grounds for corporate profits. Whole ecosystems were referred to not with spiritual reverence, but as "services" and "resources" for human exploitation. So it's only fitting, I suppose, that they called themselves, 'consumers' rather than 'thinkers', 'seers', 'philosophers', 'lovers' or 'idealists'. They consumed literally EVERYTHING in their path the world over...forests, animals, oil, metals, rivers, lakes, oceans...all for the sake of petty fashion and ego. Almost everybody then felt they had a need and a God-given right to be their own little emperor. Each felt that it was their right to have that mansion, three car garage, more clothes than they could wear, and more food than they could eat. Meanwhile, two thirds of the human world was either already starving or coming close to it. It was like the Old Roman Empire a hundred times over. And when things started to really run out, with the forests gone, the water too polluted to drink and the fish too toxic to eat, they increased their efforts to steal what was left from others peoples' lands, in even MORE wars. It was at about that time, that things started getting really dark. And amidst all this pointless destruction, they actually had the nerve to call it all, 'progress'."

"They called it 'progress'? asked a man of about 30, incredulously. "I don't believe it!".
"Believe what you will Markus, but it's true. What they considered 'progress' was based upon sheer greed, and I believe, an unspoken desire to commit collective suicide. In fact, their greed was a reflection of an inner hollowness and pointlessness, one so deep and so pervasive, that society had itself convinced 'progress' meant building things called 'shopping malls' where a forest used to be. They built such structures just so that people would have a convenient place to have their hair done, and buy gifts of little practical value."
"I didn't know that" Markus said, the light of amazed realization brightening his eyes by the fire. "But how can a people actually believe all of that has anything to do with real human progress?"
"As I told you", Heroditus responded sourly, "they were mad little buggers".
"Mad little buggers!" "Mad little buggers!" the children cried in unison, jumping up and down by the fire, laughing as they jumped. "Mad little buggers!" The adults laughed too regardless of this display, for no one here had any particular fondness for the fools of that Age. Those in the Before Time had, after all, almost destroyed the whole world and everything upon it, with their silly ideas about "prosperity" and the purpose of life. Going from a world population of around 8 billion, 99.999% of the human race had suddenly died within a few years, snuffing themselves out like a paltry candle in the wind, leaving only a comparitive handful of survivors to carry on the human legacy, in a now largely toxic wasteland.

After a few minutes of levity, the group calmed down, while Heroditus continued her story. "And on top of all this, not one person out of 5 thousand seriously questioned the false goals of a greedy, corrupt and egotistical society. People then were taught by so-called "schools" to obey without question...to get in line, rely on the system for everything you are and everything you want, and everything you believe. People then had very little individuality...they were more like numbers than genuine humans....mental clones would be a good phrase for them. Most even named their children the same as thousands of others...that was before people started naming themselves, before they realized that conforming to the social norm is NOT more important than being wise. And they spent most of the time watching this thing called "television" which told them exactly how to think and act, what to say in company, what to believe, what to wear, what to BE, and most of all what to 'consume'. "

"They say that television was evil" said a woman in the shadows, who had just joined them from the yurt-style village beyond.
"And so it was" replied the old woman. "But perhaps I should say the USE of it was evil, even though the technology itself was interesting, and could have been used for enlightening purposes".
"What WAS it used for Elder?" asked Markus.
"It was used for brainwashing people into compliance, basically, and for distracting them from the startling revelation that their lives as consumers were being wasted on frivolity, and a fascination with all things trivial, destructive and pointless. It was used to sell them a great many false ideas and mostly unneeded objects. People used to bury themselves in absurd focuses then...they even had what was called 'magazines' dedicated to nothing but gossip about 'celebrities', and a lot of other nonsense, which nobody in their right mind would care about. The vast majority even glorified randomness, chaos and trivial gossip, pretending that there was no such thing as truth or meaning in life." Many of the adults nodded, for they had seen old tattered remains of these 'magazines' and their 'celebrity gossip'.

"They were indeed quite mad to focus on such things, especially while the whole world was falling apart", commented Markus glumly.
"Mad little buggers!" cried the children, laughing again.
"It's not a game children, it's really a very serious and tragic thing" cautioned Heroditus, and only the sound of the crackling fire then remained. The children reseated themselves, frowning, and waited respectfully. "You have to understand that those times were an incredible waste of human potential. Everybody rushed about in little circles and tight schedules, like a foolish dog chasing it's own tail, pretending as though all of it meant something. But it didn't. None of that meant anything at all. And that fact didn't seem to bother anyone either. This proved only that humans have a tendency to believe in their own madness, and teach their children to do the same. That whole era accomplished absolutely nothing but the near destruction of us all, in the name of "fashion", "conformity" and "fad". That's why they did everything you know...to be like everybody else, and everybody else called themselves 'consumers'. Even when they did something to supposedly "be different" like wear a different fashion of clothes, they did so only because, "being different" was what all their friends wanted to do. Of course, almost nobody was truly 'different' from the status quo, since they lacked both the courage and the intelligence for such a thing." She paused for a moment, considering gravely, "And then the time of the Great Fall happened, and everybody started dying..."

Matthew Webb visionquest@eoni.com
The World Mind Society
Further suggested reading..."The Survivalists' Guide for the new Millennium" and other related articles in our free, on-site Library.

Please distribute this article widely, by e-mail, internet forum and hard copy for the next two years, and ask others to do the same...11/5/2009
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