Homura Akemi (The Pinnacle of Human Emotions) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bornoflove) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
mylittlejamjar2014-05-25 09:29 pm
bornoflove) wrote in mylittlejamjar2014-05-25 09:29 pm
[text][??????? filter]
[On the scrolls, an unknown scribe suddenly appears in a flicker of static. Precisely which scroll it comes from is garbled and unknown. There is, however, a flash of the abandoned/chair shop, before the meat of the production suddenly comes to life, the words animated, scrolling and rolling with rainbows.
Interspersed throughout are crayon drawings of the creepy dolls doing the actions of the story, alongside two plain, unadorned cut outs.]
Once upon a time, God made the first woman. Her name was The Gift. And then, came Man, who is also called Fool.
To The Gift, was granted a beautiful jar, which would give humans all they desired. Before God could explain fully what lay in the jar, however, the Fool convinced the Gift to open it up, which the curious girl did do. And indeed, as she did, the spirits in burst forth and danced, inviting the two humans to do likewise. Their footsteps tore apart God's mouth, rendering him mute to human's ears forevermore.
They were the spirits of the way of things. The ills of the world, which at the same time, came as a benefit and boon to advancing humans, at great cost. First was Hunger, War, Disease, Crime, Natural Disaster, Technology and Ideology - the Seven Universal Sins. Then came Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride - the Seven Individual Sins. These fourteen created a monster with their dancing, called Death, and with it a definitive end of life. But the humans were dancing, too busy to realize what they were doing to see the damage they were doing.
"Look," said the Gift, marveling at the beautiful colors. "There is but one more fairy left in the jar. It is called Hope!"
"Yes, and it is beautiful," The Fool replied. "And when we let it go, it shall be the brightest and most beautiful colors of all the creatures which dance with us right now."
However, before Hope could make its grand entrance into the world, the devil's hand came down, slamming down the lid of the jar, preventing its escape. The spirits which were free simply laughed, disappearing into the earth.
"You poor children, you did not realize. This Hope, if released, would give you the ultimate clairvoyance of the fate wrought by its sisters. You would have known, nay, expected, all of the bad things which would happen to you. You would know how you die, when you die, and from what you would die from. You would know and understand all of the ills which you had released, and the evil which they will be used for. You would understand your insignificant purpose in the system. And even knowing these horrors, you will come not to care and curse the world anyways, for what point is there if you can't change the fate you already know about? In other words, you would be like those devils which you have already released.
"But now you are free! You may be happy, without the burden of that knowledge. You can live however you want and without care. Keep Hope trapped, and life shall be like a dream. For when you have Hope, you have expectations, and those expectations will amount to nothing!"
And so the Gift and the Fool lived their lives out in blissful harmony, their memory untouched by Hope. But is that the end? Is that right? Some would say, release Hope, I do not fear my fate. I do not fear the knowledge. I would remember everything. But once released, Hope is not easily contained. Hope breeds failure, and failure breeds regret. Regret breeds a wish that one had never touched the jar, never saw it to begin with. But there will be no means to erase the memory as here. Memories were changed by a different "cutie mark". But there is no reversing Hope's mark once given.
Then, is hope a lie that should be forgotten? Or an eternal expectation which must be burdened?
Discuss.
Interspersed throughout are crayon drawings of the creepy dolls doing the actions of the story, alongside two plain, unadorned cut outs.]
Once upon a time, God made the first woman. Her name was The Gift. And then, came Man, who is also called Fool.
To The Gift, was granted a beautiful jar, which would give humans all they desired. Before God could explain fully what lay in the jar, however, the Fool convinced the Gift to open it up, which the curious girl did do. And indeed, as she did, the spirits in burst forth and danced, inviting the two humans to do likewise. Their footsteps tore apart God's mouth, rendering him mute to human's ears forevermore.
They were the spirits of the way of things. The ills of the world, which at the same time, came as a benefit and boon to advancing humans, at great cost. First was Hunger, War, Disease, Crime, Natural Disaster, Technology and Ideology - the Seven Universal Sins. Then came Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride - the Seven Individual Sins. These fourteen created a monster with their dancing, called Death, and with it a definitive end of life. But the humans were dancing, too busy to realize what they were doing to see the damage they were doing.
"Look," said the Gift, marveling at the beautiful colors. "There is but one more fairy left in the jar. It is called Hope!"
"Yes, and it is beautiful," The Fool replied. "And when we let it go, it shall be the brightest and most beautiful colors of all the creatures which dance with us right now."
However, before Hope could make its grand entrance into the world, the devil's hand came down, slamming down the lid of the jar, preventing its escape. The spirits which were free simply laughed, disappearing into the earth.
"You poor children, you did not realize. This Hope, if released, would give you the ultimate clairvoyance of the fate wrought by its sisters. You would have known, nay, expected, all of the bad things which would happen to you. You would know how you die, when you die, and from what you would die from. You would know and understand all of the ills which you had released, and the evil which they will be used for. You would understand your insignificant purpose in the system. And even knowing these horrors, you will come not to care and curse the world anyways, for what point is there if you can't change the fate you already know about? In other words, you would be like those devils which you have already released.
"But now you are free! You may be happy, without the burden of that knowledge. You can live however you want and without care. Keep Hope trapped, and life shall be like a dream. For when you have Hope, you have expectations, and those expectations will amount to nothing!"
And so the Gift and the Fool lived their lives out in blissful harmony, their memory untouched by Hope. But is that the end? Is that right? Some would say, release Hope, I do not fear my fate. I do not fear the knowledge. I would remember everything. But once released, Hope is not easily contained. Hope breeds failure, and failure breeds regret. Regret breeds a wish that one had never touched the jar, never saw it to begin with. But there will be no means to erase the memory as here. Memories were changed by a different "cutie mark". But there is no reversing Hope's mark once given.
Then, is hope a lie that should be forgotten? Or an eternal expectation which must be burdened?
Discuss.
[text][??????? filter]
Accepting hope means accepting that bad things will inevitably happen, which gives way to despair when you realize you can't stop it all. No matter what you do, and no matter what anypony else in the universe does. What point would there be to putting yourself and others through such a delusion? Would the people you failed to save think their deaths were for any "good", now that they have gone through it? No. They would curse you and the day they were born for thinking such folly, just as all who hope come to do.
[text]
And you know, when you don't actually answer a direct question that's been asked, that doesn't make it go away.
Who died? Who was your special person?
It's not hope that fixes bad things, mate. It's people. You don't give in to hope. It's not like throwing in the towel and saying 'oh, come on now hope, in you come.' Like I said, bad will always happen. Hope makes it so that we don't fall into despair. Or even if we do, it's not forever. And why have those got to be opposite ends? I can hope I win a race. If I lose it, I'm not going to break down. I'll just hope I win the next one. And I'll work at it to get better so that I do better.
You sound like a kid. Not everything has to be absolutes, black or white, hope or despair.
The people we failed to save? They probably don't think anything because they're gone. That's something we live with. And it doesn't make me despair. It just makes me hope they're in a better place.
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And of course, the four you chose to save were a family. There were no other families, no others who could be saved. What else did you give them, then, after they watched thousands of others die, knowing their ghosts would be in their dreams - and yours - all because you hoped you were giving them a new start?
What, precisely, gave you the prerogative to choose who lived and died? To choose who should hope? Is making that decision giving into hope and cursing the rest with the despair of knowing, their hopes came to nothing?
[text]
Also, you're really starting to sound like a college kid who's just had their first philosophy class. Nietzsche and nihilism are cool and all, but grown-ups move past that, darling.
We're not playing god here. We're being people - imperfect people. We did what we could. And I can sleep with that at night. Just because you want to pretend at that making someone a monster doesn't mean it's true.
[text][??????? filter]
[text]
You're seriously stuck on this god thing, aren't you? I didn't decide who should live. I decided I wanted to help someone if I could. If I'd really been playing god, I'd have saved them all. But I wasn't, so I didn't. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I've got some better walls to bang my head against, so you be you, dear. Enjoy next week's lecture. You might get to Kant or St. Thomas Aquinas. He's a peach.
[Donna closes her scroll, intent on not replying further to the kid who'd riled her up.]