Reality was too great, and so we had to turn it into something else. We had to repackage it, reinvent it. We turned it into a mere myth or legend – we toned reality down until eventually it became nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumour…
Even as nothing more than a rumour reality still had the power to disturb, the power to make people uncomfortable, the power to induce feelings of unease, and so we were obliged to transmogrify it into what I can only refer to as gossip – reams upon reams of the most dreadfully scurrilous gossip you could ever imagine. Gossip of the very lowest sort, gossip that drags you right down into the very gutter.
That was the problem that we were faced with and we dealt with it in the best way we could. At least we tried, at least we did what we could… Some will blame us, no doubt about that – some will point the accusing finger and say that we did wrong. That’s all very well after the event though. Any fool can be wise after the event. Fools are of course notorious for becoming wise after the event.
Something had to be done, however. Something had to be done and the ones who were wise after the event were nowhere to be seen! The finger waggers were conspicuous in their absence, as is always the way. Reality was just too great you see and so something had to be done about it. It couldn’t be left as it was; some kind of clever plan had to be put into action, some kind of tactic had to be employed. It threatened everything that was dear to us and so we were forced to take action. Some will criticise us for playing it safe of course, but who’s to say what would have happened had reality not been checked? Answer me that, my fine judgmental friends. Answer me that, if you can.
I can understand the point of view that says we went too far, of course. I can appreciate the point that is being made. Some even go so far as to say that Satan’s Nightmare had been unleashed upon the world as a result of our meddling and I suppose there’s a grain of truth in this. We weren’t to know the time however; we weren’t to know and that’s all that can be said on the matter. We did the best we could under very difficult circumstances – we tried, at least.
Reality isn’t even a rumour anymore, of course. It’s a rumour that is long since being discredited, a myth that has long since passed into obscurity. Like a bedtime story we have outgrown, like a fairy story that we have had to put to one side because we’re adults now. We’ve had to come to terms with the world as it is and no one said that this was going to be easy. No one wants to be seen as being soft in the head, after all; no one wants to be ridiculed in a public forum. No one wants that because that sort of thing can be very humiliating.
They say we were responsible for doing Satan’s work for him, they say that he never actually had to lift a finger because we were so keen to set things in motion. And indeed we were keen – so very keen. We couldn’t have been keener. We were fanatics, I suppose you could say. Crazed, heedless fanatics. Seekers after the truth, seekers after a truth that we ourselves in our desperation were obliged to invent. Worshippers of a truth that we ourselves had created. Those were the good times, you see, those were wonderful tremendous times. You can’t beat being a crazed fanatic, after all. Creating your own truth and punishing all those who refused to believe in it! Punishing them good and proper… Good good times, as I have said.
We made a world out of our own words, our own cruel and heartless words. Then we gathered all the people together and made them to live in that world. We commanded them to live in that world and – what’s more – we commanded them to be grateful for it. We commanded them to keep a gratitude diary. The lack of gratitude was identified as a sin, a sin that must be punished with the greatest severity. ‘Look at what we did for you,’ we say, ‘look at all we did for you and still you are ungrateful, just like the proverbial serpent’s tooth’. We created a world out of our crass and vicious words and we made the people to live in it, and we told them that they were lucky. We commanded them to be happy in this vile world that we had constructed out of our malice and to be sure they tried their best. They still try their best. They try their best every day. We have to give them that much, I suppose…
