A parasite, the Lie breeds with my actions, my words, my gestures, even my thoughts. These nauseating syllables catch in my throat. But I write the words; because, like vomit, they must escape--though no one appreciates their coming out-- especially not the man with his horror face jerking in agony over the trash can.
Oh, I exaggerated just then about the vomit! It’s not really all that dramatic. Actually, I lied. It’s not like that at all. There! You see, the Parasite! I open my mouth and out come its babies, wrapped up in every word, every thought. A man like me can’t speak the truth!
Even so, a body must try. The retching metaphor having been canned, these words are more like the slow drippings of an old, infected wound. Someday maybe they will flow from a purer spring.
In vain, I might attempt to offer some excuse for my protracted cyber-silence. I will save myself and you, my readers (if I still have any), from that exercise in insincerity.
Yes, your readers remain. If I don't comment it's because I lack the words, not the appreciation.
ReplyDeleteinteresting...erm, metaphor. i'm sorry you have parasitic babies spilling from your mouth...
ReplyDeleteYes, I have refreshed my memory (wikipedia), and I have read Asimov's story, "The Martian Way".
ReplyDeleteA human is a very small creature. Our sight is limited, our time is short and our brains are weak. We must rely on what others tell us for almost everything we know. For any particular thing, only a few of us are specialists. The rest of us can but only trust the word of the few on the topic. We do not have the intelligence, the time, or the vision to verify most things we hold as facts.
This is our weakness, but it is also our strength. We could not hear the word of Truth without also being able to contradict it.
As a weakness, the human tends to believe what he wishes to believe. We gather evidence for our beliefs wherever we can find them, good or bad. And when enough people believe the same lie, it becomes common sense and almost everyone believes it. This wouldn't matter except that we pass laws to restrict what others can do, which I think is the point of the Asimov book as well as the campaign against ethanol.