At that I sobered up and replied, "But what of Onan, of my quest to stop
the doom of humanity from materializing in this final juncture. He is
the one who sent me, and he is the Lord of the Past, whom the Canitaurs
follow. I am his agent, why would I turn from him to serve mere
mortals?"
He laughed a slight, sarcastic laugh, "Tell me, Jehu, to whom did he
send you, your ancestors or your offspring?"
"To my ancestors," I said slowly, "Though the Canitaurs seemed to imply
that my time was long ago. To be candid, I do not understand."
"Of course you do not understand, and how could you, when no one has
told you? You see, Jehu, the question of time is not so linear as you
would think. You know full well that the conflict between the Zards and
Canitaurs is over how to address the renewing of the earth: they would
send you, our kinsman redeemer, back into time to prevent the nuclear
wars, while we would send you to the future to bring back its
completion. They hold to traditions as if they were the foundation of
life, while our people have no traditions in the traditional sense, if I
may use that oxymoronic phrase, but we look to what will come instead of
what has passed. History is unimportant to the present, Jehu, because we
have advanced to the point that we do not make the same mistakes as our
ancestors. In the past, they waged war needlessly and did so in the name
of humanitarian deeds. But today, we are advanced enough that we use
peaceful and just means to reach our ends. In your day there were many
absurd beliefs, for example the so-called 'fats' that were so vehemently
avoided, are actually quite healthy, while on the other hand,
protectionism and socialism are quite absurd ideas, and yet they were
held dear. But today we have no such presuppositions, today we
understand the world and know justice where your society knew only its
shadows. We do not need to be bound by the mistakes of yesterday, for we
have the enlightenment of today, and while the Canitaurs cling to the
old time's ways, we have progressed to the point where we have no need
of such traditions."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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