I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE YOU BACK IN TIME
long before mankind destroyed the planet, back to a time when all the spirits of the Planet were working out who would be responsible for what part of the Planet’s upkeep.
For you see early on in the mists of time we all were equal, not equal in the fact of size and power but equal in the acceptance that all of the Planet’s inhabitants were as important to each other as a balance. Even the Planet itself had a place at the table as the Planet’s emotions effected us all. Rain and wind were not seen as good or bad but as an opportunity to grow and nourish, sun and heat allowed those who didn’t cope well (or like) such conditions a space as well.
And as the Planet flourished even more space was found for the new species who grew out of opportunities being created, Agile and Just in Time weren’t invented by mankind they are the building blocks of life, trial and error, refine and define us all. A single cell is the worlds best minimum viable product. But these new creatures needed a job too and this brought complexity to a once simple Planet.
And so this crowding and demand for resources led to the inevitable conclusion that in order for all to have a fair share then there would have to be sacrifices. For some their sacrifice was a short but glorious life, for others their years would be many but their lives would be duller, and all agreed that as over population would impact and destroy them all then there would be others who could prey on them but who in return would live a more solitary life, too many killers and the balance would break the system.
The Planet agreed that it could temper its harsh conditions just a little to allow life to move further out to the edges, thereby giving even more room for diversity and expansion. But in a way the Planet’s job was the easiest as it only had to temper its behaviour, and as it was getting older anyway it didn’t require too much effort.
But for the new and extraordinary life forces being incubated the world was literally their oyster. But the old systems felt threatened by these new species and tried to restrict them with the conditions they had grown up with, but the genie was long gone from the bottle and anyway the new species had already moved to the new climates and were starting their own colonies.
And this is where our story begins as these new creatures had not forgotten the ways of the old ones and in their DNA they understood balance but they also saw that some species were failing to keep up and were sliding out of existence so a giant council was called for all living things.
It was agreed that the older more established species would have to give up some of their power as the agility of the newcomers was already rendering them obsolete anyway.
The brashest of the upstarts was an offshoot of the Chimpanzee and being the only creature on the planet who couldn’t protect itself from birth had developed some unsavoury habits to protect its young. The rest of the Planet’s creatures struggled to find a place for this newcomer.
The Human (colloquial term) however was if nothing audacious and proposed that its job may be to act as a simple messenger between all the creatures in a sort of “servant Leader” role. Now there were many who felt unease at this interference as the Planet had for millions of years been in a perfect balance and Harmony was protected by simply including all.
But these were fast changing times and some of the newer species could see that by supporting this brash new upstart they too might leapfrog into a more…. influential position, already the harmony was starting to strain. Now of course the amoeba and the fly and all the other essential but boring creatures whose job it was to clean up the litter of all the other species felt a cold wave slip over them, this creature, this Human, had addressed none of them instead turning itself to the powerful and strongest. This upstart was Ubering the system.
And it came to pass that by stealth and cunning and trickery the Human quickly wormed (this was once a term of endearment as worms were referred to as “Monks of the earth” as they were the “Keepers” of the soil) themselves into a position of power.
But Humans were also part of the Planet and its DNA ran through them as strongly as any other creature, so respect for the Planet and all its inhabitants was guaranteed, and so it might have stayed but the Human was a fast and agile learner and he observed the behaviour of his fellow creatures learning traits from all. Courage from the Lion, memory from the Elephant, curiosity from the Cat, wisdom from the Owl and even patience from the Tortoise but there was one creature who’s traits he could never master, the Duck.
Now the Duck had been overlooked initially, and in order to make up all the Planets creatures agreed that it could choose its own place in the system. The Duck was also an observer and it realised it could never compete with the stronger or smarter species and so on a whim it suggested that instead of looking at what was going on “in the Moment” sometimes referred to as “being present” it would instead look at what was going to happen in the future to warn all the other species to dangers.
They had all laughed at the Duck, I mean what rubbish, who needed to know the future it was the same as today and yesterday … they all agreed immediately and so it was that the Duck came to be the foreteller (more often known as the fortune teller) of the future.
As time passed so the power of its fortune telling continued but very few listened especially as it had turned its food source towards the eating of the Monks. To be fair it was much happier with its original meal the Slarge berry which was both highly nutritious and if left to rot mildly stimulating but the Human had destroyed the Slarge berry in order to use its newest invention the harnessing of lightning (evidently lightning had hit the Slarge berry and for some reason it burnt very slowly) and so the Slarge berry was Humans first extinction.
The Duck had tried to warn the Planet’s creatures of this frightening move from harmony but it would seem a trifling thing and effected none of them (save the worms) and so the Ducks warnings went unanswered.
But one species was paying very close attention and they heard the Ducks message loud and clear.
For those of you interested raw Duck is almost inedible to Humans but cooked with a burning Slarge berry ….. Ah now that is truly a tasty morsel.
No comments yet.