A
man sat down next to me one day as I was waiting for the bus. After a
few moments of silence, he turned to me and said in a very matter of
fact tone:
“This is a
stupid world.”
It
wasn’t the usual way I’d expect a complete stranger to start a
conversation. I looked at his face and saw that he was neither angry
nor upset. This left me intrigued, particularly as it appeared he
wasn’t going to say anything else.
“What do you
mean by that?”
I enquired, genuinely puzzled at where this might lead. I thought I was
a pretty good judge of people and generally able to sense their
emotional state without too much trouble. With this guy however, I had
no idea – He was somehow, unreadable.
“I mean that
this world of yours makes no sense to me,” he replied.
Before
I could say anything else, the man knelt down directly in front of me
and locked his eyes upon mine with a gaze I could not have broken even
if I had wanted to. His look held no malice, no aggression and no
threat. In that instant, the stranger built a connection between
himself and the deepest part of my being. Maybe it was my mind he
bonded with; perhaps he reached my very soul – I don’t know. What I DO
know, is that it was tangible and something very real.
“You are
destroying a wonderful thing,” he began, almost
whispering, but with a conviction and depth of knowing I had never
encountered before.
“Your
rivers are choking, your wildlife is dying and your rainforests are
almost gone. The air in your big cities isn’t safe to breathe, the
weather is ever more violent and unpredictable and the entire globe
grows hotter with each passing day.” He paused and then
went on as if there was a lot to say and little time to say it.
“How much
longer do you think humanity’s selfishness, righteousness and apathy
can be sustained?”
“Why
do you allow television programs that artificially manufacture the most
insecure, irresponsible and superficial of human behaviours and then
call it Reality TV
? And why are you then surprised
when your society mysteriously becomes more insecure, irresponsible and
superficial?
“Why
do you invest so much in teaching your children how to make a living in
today’s world, yet so little in teaching them how to live with the
coming challenges of tomorrow?
“How
many wars are there on Earth at the moment? How many of them are being
fought in the name of God? How much terror can the human heart endure?
“Why
do you wait and pretend everything is still alright when it so plainly
is not? How close to your own species’ death do you have to get before
you really do something?”
Suddenly, he stopped and
broke his gaze. I was dazed and strangely exhausted. I looked at him,
still unable to get a grasp on what had just happened.
“Who are
you?” Was all I could mumble from within my
confusion.
“I am your
fading future.” he said coldly, and vanished before my
eyes. ###
Fading
Future by Indra Reinpuu