Parable of the Talents

from The Journals of Lauren Oya Olamina

saturday, february 19, 2033

I feel more strongly man I ever have that there will soon be war.

President Jarret is still stirring up bad feelings over Alaska, or as he describes it, 'our truant forty-ninth state.' He paints Alaska's President Leontyev and the Alaskan legislature as the real enemies—as 'mat gang of traitors and thieves who are trying to steal a vast, rich portion of these United States for themselves. These people want to treat all of Alaska as their own personal, private property. Can we let them get away with it? Can we let them cheat us, rob us, de­stroy our country, use our sacred constitution as waste paper? Can we forget that 'If a house be divided against it­self, that house cannot stand?' Jesus Christ spoke those words 2000 years ago. President Abraham Lincoln paraphrased them in 1858. Was Lincoln wrong? Was—dare we ask it? Dare we imagine it? Was Christ wrong? Was our Lord, wrong?'

He's so good at asking nasty rhetorical questions—so good at encouraging young men—not young women, only men—to 'Do your duty, to your country and to yourselves. Prove yourselves men worthy to be called good Christian American soldiers. Serve your country, now that it has such great need of you.' They're to do all this by joining the armed services. I've never heard a president talk this way— although I have read about presidents and leaders of other nations who talked this way when they were preparing for war. Jarret said nothing about drafting people, but Bankole says that may be next. Bankole was down in Sacramento a couple of days ago, and he says a lot of people think it's 'time we taught that bunch of traitors up in Alaska a lesson.'

It shouldn't be so easy to nudge people toward what might be their own destruction.

'Who was doing the talking?' I asked him as he un­packed medical supplies. He keeps most of his supplies in our cabin until they're needed at the clinic. That way they're less likely to tempt children or thieves. 'I mean, was it most of the people you talked to or just a few?'

'Mostly men,' he said. 'Some young and some old enough to know better. I think a lot of the younger ones would like a war. War is exciting. A boy can prove himself, become a man—if he lives. He'll be given a gun and trained to shoot people. He'll be a powerful part of a powerful team. Chances are, he won't think about the people who'll be shooting back at him, bombing him, or otherwise trying to kill him until he faces them.'

I thought about the young single men of Acorn—Jorge Cho, Esteban Peralta, Antonio Figueroa, and even my brother Marc, and shook my head. 'Did you ever want to go to war?' I asked.

'Never,' Bankole answered. 'I wanted to be a healer. I was damned idealistic about it. Believe me, that was a daunting enough challenge for a young Black boy in the late twentieth century—much harder than learning to kill. It never occurred to me back in the 1990s when I was in med­ical school that in spite of my ideals, I would have to learn to do both.'

monday, february 28, 2033

Marc spoke at Gathering yesterday. This is the third time he's done it. Each time he learns more about Earthseed and tries harder to convince us that our beliefs are nonsense. He seems to have decided that the unity, the Christianity, and the hope that Jarret has brought to the country makes Jarret not the monster we all feared but a potential savior. The country, he tells us, must get back to God or it is finished.

'The Earthseed Destiny,' he said yesterday, 'is an airy nothing. The country is bleeding to death in poverty, slavery, chaos, and sin. This is the time for us to work for our salva­tion, not to divert our attention to fantasy explorations of extrasolar worlds.'

Travis, trying to explain, said, 'The Destiny is important for the lessons it forces us to learn while we're here on Earth, for the people it encourages us to become. It's impor­tant for the unity and purpose that it gives us here on Earth.  And in the future, it offers us a kind of species adulthood and species immortality when we scatter to the stars.'

My brother laughed. 'If you're looking for immortality in outer space,' he said, 'you've been misled. You already have an immortal soul, and where that soul spends eternity is up to you. Remember the Tower of Babel! You can follow Earthseed, build your way to go to the stars, fall down into chaos, and wind up in hell! Or you can follow the will of God. And if you follow God's will, you can live forever, se­cure and happy, in God's true heaven.'

Zahra Balter, loyal in spite of her personal beliefs, spoke up before I could. 'Marc,' she said, 'if we have immortal souls, don't you think we'll take them with us even if we go to the stars?'