[Author's Note: Sorry about the formatting. It looks great as a full window, but somehow it just doesn't look right in this little blog entry. If you want to read it in its original format, just ask & I'll email it to you]

Between Darkness and Light

I once lived in a dying world of broken dreams and shattered hopes, but then an angel came to me and offered to take me to a world where dreams could be fulfilled and hopes would never be dashed.  Though it could very well have been foolishness on my part, I jumped at the chance to be happy once more.  The angel took me here, to this world that he had come from.  Here, I found happiness and acceptance among others who, like me, had despaired of life altogether.  We worked together to build our own ideal world, and joyfully served the master of the angels who had brought us here.  Our master is called Sere, the one who gives hope and a purpose to those who have lost their own.  We, the followers of Sere, built our lives on the foundation that he had laid out for us, a world where experience was held in esteem and we could build up a society whose practices were tried and true.  In this world, our world, we found dreams and hopes that were always fulfilled, and we were happy once more.     That's when those evildoer came, followers of demons who served a devil.  They called themselves the Followers of Soa, and claimed to be working to build a better future.  However, we recognized them at once for who they truly were.  They were the ones who built and maintained the world that we had fled from.  We knew that the idealistic world that they promised would really only result in more destroyed lives, so we resisted them.  They claimed to be freeing us from our bondage here, but we knew this was a lie.  We were free, not bound, and happy because of it.  It was they who had bound us so long ago with their promises of a better world where the sky was the limit.  They bound us to a world where anything that did not change was destroyed.  In their world, perfection could never exist, and so all that was left were failed experiments, lost hopes, and broken promises.  We resisted them, and so the war came.     The war was terrible, but necessary.  The war began on our world, a place of stability and happiness.  However, our adversaries began taking bits and pieces of our territory, imposing their own way as they went.  In the places they changed, they gave public ridicule and torture to those who resisted them, even though the ones who resisted were almost always the ones who had once lived under their dominion and fled here.  Those who only knew the happiness of this world, those who had heard only rumors of the evil that these invaders wrought, these were the ones who were persuaded to join the ranks of our enemies.  Soon enough, we heard those traitors shouting hateful things at us, claiming that we had enslaved them to the past and held them back from improving themselves and the world around them.  This infuriated us, and so we attacked those who had turned our own children into enemies who hated us with a passion.     We took back the land that had been stolen from us by the Followers of Soa.  We marched back through those territories that had once been ours, but were lost.  In every place we retook, we freed the captives and tried to reason with the traitors.  The captives praised Sere for sending us to free them from the treatment that the Followers of Soa had subjected them to.  The traitors cursed us and hated us, and nothing we could say would change their minds.  We told them of the horrible world that the Followers of Soa had created, but the traitors did not believe us.  They said that we lied, and that we were evil for holding back progress.  They took our proud titles -- the words we used to describe the new world of eternal dreams -- and bent the meanings until all that was left of them were hateful labels that were reserved for your worst enemy.  In sadness, we loosed these traitors so that they could become followers of Soa, and hoped that one day they would realize their folly.     After we retook our own lands, we continued to push back the Followers of Soa.  They were encamped in a land where the inhabitants followed neither Soa nor Sere, a people who lived simply to be free from any master.  In these lands, our enemies imposed their own twisted vision of what a world should look like.  They enslaved these people who loved freedom, and threw out all of their cherished institutions.  In their place, they erected ghastly programs that promised a bright future but delivered nothing but desolation.  We saw the horrible things that our enemies were doing in this land, and so we fought ever harder to drive out these evildoers and their demonic masters.     In every place we fought in this land that loved freedom, the people thanked us and welcomed us in.  As we drove back our enemies, we destroyed the things that they had brought into this land, and returned it as best we could to the way it was before.  Many of the citizens of this place asked us about our own ways, and so we offered to show them how we created a land of bliss and prosperity.  They joyfully accepted, and so these people who loved freedom came to accept the ways of Sere, although they would not acknowledge Sere as their master.     We pushed on, marching forward through the neutral lands until at last we came to Soa's domain.  When we arrived, we were aghast at what we found.  The people living here lived almost exactly opposite to what we did.  Almost everything that we knew was wrong, they considered right.  In this way, they joyfully indulged in all the evil that was possible in this world, yet they were blissfully ignorant that they were wrong in what they did.  We felt pity on these poor people, so we talked to them and explained to them why what they were doing was wrong.  However, they sneered and glared at us, and told us that we were hypocritical fools who blindly accepted what Sere told us.  They claimed to be in the right, and even went so far as to tell us that those things that we knew were right were actually evil.     A few of them, however, listened to us and accepted our ways.  They lived good and productive lives in these evil lands, not paying any attention to those around them who called them ignorant and reactionary.  We protected these who had chosen to join us, and marched out to stamp out the evil in this land.  In every place we came to, we told them about our ways and offered to let any of them join us.  Only after offering them the chance of changing their ways voluntarily did we force anyone to change.  We regretted having to use force, but if we did not then these people would surely destroy themselves with their own foolish actions.    For a time, all was well.  Then our enemies returned, full of wrath and desiring vengeance.  The Followers of Soa came and pushed us out of their lands.  They tore down all the good things that we had given the people of this land, and replaced them with their own destructive ways.  It was with sadness that we left, taking with us those who had voluntarily joined us.  We would have rather that they remain in Soa's territory so that they could continue to persuade others to follow our ways.  However, those evil followers of Soa exiled those who had joined us.  When we had been completely thrust out of their lands, we left a token force to guard the neutral people who loved freedom, and returned to our own lands to pursue happiness and live fulfilling lives full of hopes and dreams.

I once lived in a dying world of unfulfilled desires and bitter stagnancy, but then an angel came to me and offered to take me to a world where I could realize my own potential and fulfill my every desire.  Though it very well could have been foolishness on my part, I jumped at the chance to find a better world where I could reclaim my humanity.  The angel took me here, to this world that he had come from.  Here, I found hope and acceptance among those who, like me, desired to find a better world where we could all become better than those who had come before us.  We worked together to build our ideal world, and joyfully served the master of the angels who had brought us here.  our master is called Soa, the one who fulfills the dreams of those who are caught in the past, the one who leads us ever onward to build a perfect world.  We, the followers of Soa, committed our lives to this new dream and goal, we dedicated ourselves to building a world where everyone is treated with respect and equality, where we are free to do whatever we want.  In this world, our world, we found desires that were always fulfilled and eternal change that protected us from stagnancy.     That's when those evildoers came, followers of demons who served a devil.  They called themselves the followers of Sere, and claimed to have the perfect world that we were seeking.  However, we recognized them at once for who they truly were.  They were the ones who had built and maintained the world that we had fled from.  We knew that the perfect world that they promised would really only result in more lives going nowhere, and so we resisted them.  They claimed to be freeing us from our destructive cycle of change, but we knew it was a lie.  We were not bound, and happy because of our progress.  It was they who had bound us long ago with their promises of a perfect world.  They bound us to a world where nothing could change, where even the institutions that were known to be corrupt could not be destroyed.  In their world, tradition was all that existed, and so all we were left with was unfulfilled desires, frustration, and desperation to be human once more.  We resisted them, and so the war came.     The war was terrible, but necessary.  The war began on our world, a place of progress and truth.  However, our adversaries began taking bits and pieces of our territory, imposing their own way as they went.  In the places they changed, they game public ridicule and torture to those who resisted them, even though the ones who resisted were almost always the very ones who had once lived under their domain and fled here.  Those who knew the happiness of this world, those who had heard only rumors of the stagnancy that these invaders created, these were the ones who were persuaded to join the ranks of our enemies.  Soon enough, we heard these traitors shouting hateful things at us, claiming that we had deceived them with empty promises of a better world that left them without a foundation to build their life upon.  This infuriated us, so we attacked those who had turned our own children against us, who had made those we loved people who hated us with a passion.     We took back the land that had been stolen from us by the Followers of Sere.  We marched back through those territories that had once been ours, but were lost.  In every place we retook, we freed the captives and tried to reason with the traitors.  The captives praised Soa for sending us to free them from the treatment that the Followers of Sere had subjected them to.  The traitors cursed us and hated us, and nothing we could say would change their minds.  We told them of the dreadful world that the Followers of Sere had created, but the traitors did not believe us.  They said that we lied, and that we were evil for imposing change on them when they did not desire it.  They took our proud titles -- the words we used to describe our wonderful word of eternal progress -- and bent the meanings until all that was left of them were hateful labels that were reserved for your worst enemy.  In sadness, we loosed these traitors so that they could become followers of Sere, and hoped that one day they would realize their folly.     After we retook our own lands, we continued to push back the Followers of Sere.  They were encamped in a land where the inhabitants followed neither Sere nor Soa, a people who lived simply to be free from any master.  In these lands, our enemy imposed their own twisted vision of what the world should look like.  They enslaved these people who loved freedom, and threw out all of their progress.  In this place, they erected ghastly traditions that promised a perfect world but delivered nothing but a boring world where nothing ever changes.  We saw the horrible things that our enemies were doing in this land, and so we fought back to drive out these evildoers and their demonic masters.     In every place we fought in this land that loved freedom, the people thanked us and welcomed us in.  As we drove back our enemies, we destroyed the things that they had brought to this land, and returned it as best we could to the way that it was before.  Many of the citizens of this place asked us about our own ways, and so we offered to show them how we created a land where we could one day be perfect.  They joyfully accepted, and so these people who loved freedom came to accept the ways of Soa, although they would not acknowledge Soa as their master.    We pushed on, marching forward through the neutral lands until at last we came to Soa's domain.  When we arrived, we were aghast at what we found.  The people living here lived almost exactly opposite to what we did.  Almost everything that we knew was wrong, they considered right.  In this way, they joyfully indulged in all the evil that was possible in this world, yet they were blissfully ignorant that they were wrong in what they did.  We felt pity on these poor people, so we talked to them and explained to them why what they were doing was wrong.  However, they sneered and glared at us, and told us that we were deceived fools who blindly accepted whatever Soa told us..  They claimed to be in the right, and even went so far as to tell us that those things that we knew were right were actually evil.     A few of them, however, listened to us and accepted our ways.  They lived good and productive lives in these evil lands, not paying any attention to those around them who called them foolish and counterproductive.  We protected these who had chosen to join us, and marched out to stamp out the evil in this land.  In every place we came to, we told them about our ways and offered to let any of them join us.  Only after offering them the chance of changing their ways voluntarily did we force anyone to change.  We regretted having to use force, but if we did not then these people would surely destroy themselves with their own ignorant actions.    For a time, all was well.  Then our enemies returned, full of wrath and desiring vengeance.  The Followers of Sere came and pushed us out of their lands.  They tore down all the good things that we had given the people of this land, and replaced them with their own destructive ways.  It was with sadness that we left, taking with us those who had voluntarily joined us.  We would have rather that they remain in Sere's territory so that they could continue to convince others of the wisdom of our ways.  However, those evil followers of Sere exiled those who had joined us.  When we had been completely thrust out of their lands, we left a token force to guard the neutral people who loved freedom, and returned to our own lands to pursue happiness and live fulfilling lives full of hopes and dreams.

    I live in a land between two warring nations.  Originally, it was all one land, where we freely lived with no master to govern us.  We sought to build a better future, but did not ignore the wisdom of the past.  Then along came two charismatic leaders, Soa and Sere.  One promised stability and happiness, the other promised the potential for a perfect world and the freedom to live out our daily lives the way we saw fit.  Many in our land were persuaded, and left to follow their chosen leader.  When the dust had settled, only a few of us remained to pursue a path based on what was best, not on a lofty ideal of stability or progress.  We are the few who lived in the real world, and we proudly lived our free lives, spurning the advances of Soa and Sere.

    Then the wars began.  Groups from both sides had gone to the others' lands to persuade them to change their ways.  A few who realized that they were deceived followed, and lashed out at their former master and colleagues.  However, instead of returning to us, these who realized the deception merely traded one deception for another, falling easily to the other extreme with the zeal of one converted to a new religion.  Then the two sides lashed out at each other for invading their territory, and so the cycle repeated.  Every time, our own lands became occupied, and more of us began to fall away.  It is only because both sides conquer us for short times that many of us are left, all who live here see both the good and the evil in each extreme, and choose to take the good from each and discarded the evil.  We are few, this is very true, but we are committed to maintaining our freedom.  What neither the followers of Sere nor the followers of Soa realize is that we live in a world where almost everything is a shade of gray.  There is no perfect world in this life, though many promise otherwise.  It is not foolish to be deceived and pursue the dream of a perfect world once, but to do so again is the height of stupidity.  We know that our pleas fall on deaf ears, and we know that we are likely blind to our own faults as well.  After all, even our world is not perfect, for everyone lives in a world between darkness and light.