Reflection on Takers

Reading that one line in Ishmael at the end of chapter 10 sent a shiver down my spine. Maybe it was the way he worded it. To use words like 'ultimately', 'beyond recall', makes the whole sentence that much more solid. The whole thing is made to feel that much more of a truth rather than an opinion.


The worst part is that we can't deny the truth of these words. We can plaster other concerns over them, pretend that those words were never written. We can say, oh, I think we should focus more on global warming, or genocide, or dictatorship in Africa, but it doesn't change the fact that Ishmael's words are very much TRUE.

The fact is, we DO destroy an unbroken chain of real wisdom every time we allow or even encourage a Leaver culture to dissipate in the sands of time. When a species dies, we ARE snapping the chain of its evolution. We are proud that we can trace back our lineage into centuries past, but then we cut off the future of another species' descendants.

"It is ugly."

I don't think those words do this truth justice. This is beyond 'ugly'. This is beyond the language we have invented for ourselves.