The Polaris Diaries

Of the entire group, Steve was the only one who was unable to fall asleep on this last night of theirs in Atrapar.  His mind was flooded with thoughts, few of which were pleasant.  Oh, the feelings of awe were still with him when he took measure of what he had seen and experienced, not the least of which was that incredible journey to these far reaches of space, his having met so many different people and having learned so much about them–and about himself. 

The curious thing was that he had by now accepted rather calmly the reality of that incredible interstellar travel he had experienced first-hand.  It was possible because of a higher technology people on some other planets possessed.  Wondrous, yes, but not inconceivable.  The people of Earth were themselves on their way to the stars, witness the advances in their space technology of late.  Some day in the near or distant future, the Earthers too would come to see part of what only he and a few others had seen and experienced.  So the travel part he had accepted.  Similarly, he had accepted the existence of other beings with mindsets different from those of his fellow Earthers.  But his troubled thoughts on this last night of his in Atrapar were quizzical.  Are all those people elsewhere in the cosmos any different from us after all?  The inevitable answer he was receiving was, No, life is pretty much the same everywhere among the stars.  In spite of the technology, or perhaps because of it (who knew?) the problems besetting living beings seemed to be the same: struggle, survival, pain, death.  Also, alas, there is greed everywhere, and arrogance, and hatred.  Yes, there is kindness and compassion to be found everywhere as well; but those positive qualities seem to have been overshadowed by those other baser aspects of human nature which prompt people to commit so many evil acts against one another. 

Above all, Steve was angry.  Angry at some people who are so blinded by ambition and greed that they would connive, and manipulate, and force others to do their will.  Angry at politicians, angry at churchmen, angry at the constant exploitation the rich and mighty practice upon the less fortunate, the poor, the weak, the gullible.  Steve was well read for his years; he had studied his Earth history, philosophy, even treatises on government; and once the dates, and the figures, and the events in history were sieved and filtered through his lucid mind, he had discovered, much to his angst, that the human condition has not changed in eons.  Just as his human ancestors, the ancient Greeks and Romans, were confined by their limited horizons and outlook, Modern Man on Earth has discovered that his own horizons are also limited.  He has indeed increased and multiplied and has conquered the Earth; but he has abused his dominion over all the Earth’s resources by depleting them at such an alarming rate that he now sees his extinction on his planet as a definite possibility.  He is currently considering the conquest of space, eager to assume dominion of the stars as well, in order to satisfy his ego and his greed.  He masks that ego and that greed by pretending to be searching for other beings who might, among other things, answer questions Classical Man was unable to ask and for which Medieval Man was provided only with an opiate for an answer–and Modern Man has been totally confused about.  His ignorance, and his stupidity, do not allow the possibility that the galaxy may be peopled with beings just like him asking pretty much the same questions he has been asking all along regarding the significance, purpose and that elusive meaning of life.  Beings everywhere assert the independence of their free will, but apparently no one has a concrete notion of his choice-making abilities.  Enough light is shed on that will to make each being recognize what in the end is good and what is evil; yet, through arrogance, simple blindness, or plain ignorance, people refuse to read the signals sent to them by Nature.  As a result, his choice-making abilities have been atrophying along the way because of the sheer multiplicity of those choices he is presented with by politicians, churchmen, economists and technological cartels, all of whom offer him panaceas for a price which includes his pocketbook, his dignity, and his soul.  So his so-called freedom of choice has been an illusion of choice after all, the consequence of which has been that atrophying of his will amid an ocean of conflicting signals, obsolescence, and irrelevancy.  Steve was very angry, more so now that he had discovered that the same miserable conditions also existed elsewhere in his galaxy.  What an existence! reflected his mind on that sleepless night of his so many thousands of light years away from Earth.