0.0.0.0 Would Our Legacy Survive?

by Richard Graupner

  Thinking back on how we had all pandered to the requirements to get a good education to be able to earn well, and how we had feared not making it, I had to agree with him. The powers that be back then had not tolerated free thinking, and people doing so had found it very difficult to survive, even being unfairly attacked by the system’s resources, most notably the media and professional institutions. It was amazing how people had thought the media was free and reported on the world as they wished. How much reality had been denied us back then, I wondered?

  An adult, an old woman by the way she walked, came out and watched the children. She was a rarity as far as the renegades went. We had noticed over the years that the renegades seldom had people who were older than forty or so. The hardship and diseases obviously took their toll. The sad part was that they were fast losing the knowledge of how it was before, relying rather on the violence of the winner-takes-all philosophy. This philosophy stems almost exclusively from the fear of lack, that there is insufficient to go around and one must take by force what one needed. Watching passing renegades collecting vegetables from the wild portion of the garden my father had planted on the plot, I remember asking him if this would be a problem. He had replied, ‘No. If people are able to get what they need without force, that is their natural state. These people will take and move on, and will be no threat to us. It is when they fear someone will stop them getting what they need that they will become aggressive and all sense of rationality will simply evaporate. Many will later wonder how they were able to behave in such a manner, but sadly, repetition and constant fear will eventually erase even those thoughts.’

  Having seen what I had over all these years, he had been correct. The renegades had simply become less inclined to even consider sharing or joining us. Whenever they had seen something we had that they wanted, they were always prepared to try to take it by force. We had survived only by being better prepared, by being willing to put the effort in to create and build something more permanent. As the view below us attested, nothing had been done to any of the old buildings to make them more liveable. It seemed that the people had simply moved to the next best thing as time went on, and I am sure the best places had always been inhabited by the strongest and most violent of them.

  We had been watching for perhaps half of the afternoon, deep in our own thoughts, warmed by the soft autumn sun, when a group of seven walked out of the bush, on the right hand side of the town from our viewpoint, heading in the general direction of the children. We watched as they neared the area of the children, one of them calling out when within a few streets of where the children were playing. The children took off with shouts of joy and headed down the street towards the incoming party. The leader squatted down and was bowled over by the children.

  ‘That is as it should be,’ I mused quietly. I caught Thomas looking at me, a thoughtful expression on his face. I raised my one eyebrow at him, recalling how my father had always done that to me.

  Taking his cue, he said quietly, ‘I have never seen this behaviour before.’

  ‘Remember what we have been discussing these past days in the villages?’ I said. ‘With the drop in the numbers from the last bout of disease that ravaged them, the renegades are far less aggressive. The reduced numbers has reduced the stress on resources for them, and they are able to survive easier. There is also less stress on the communities from power plays for dominance and so on. Having seen what we have seen today, I am more convinced than ever that now is the time to engage them, to work with them to create a common civilization for this area, one that will become strong enough to survive and retain the knowledge we have protected so carefully. If we do not do it now, these groups will grow again, and they will have moved still further from the morphic memories of our time, creating an even stronger one based on violence. We must act now, but we need to do so carefully.’

  Thomas turned back to the village, a small contemplative frown on his face.

  ‘I know all this seems important,’ Dave said, ‘but we have been here a while, and night is fast approaching. We will need to find a safe place to sleep before moving on. Perhaps we can use that old building we passed earlier as there is no sign of anyone being near there for some time.’ We agreed that we would move back shortly. I wanted to watch the interplay between the people down below as long as I was able. I had the distinct impression that the modified behaviour we were observing was as a consequence of the older woman we had seen earlier. I felt sure that she was now able to impose some of her wisdom and previous life experiences on the group, putting back some of the compassion and love that she understood into the void created by the sudden reduction in the group numbers and resultant reduction in group stress. I did not say it yet to my caring and cautious guardians, but I knew in my heart that if the foraging group moved out again tomorrow, I was going to go down and speak to that old woman.

  It is remarkable how comfortable and warm a bed of cut wild grass can be, even out in the open as it were. Although we slept within the building walls, there were no window panes and the roof had long ago rotted away. Dave and Thomas were angels in my eyes, having gone out and collected far more grass than I realistically needed, doing so in the meagre light remaining after we had finally arrived back at the old building. Their sense of caring and willingness to look after an old lady was extremely comforting. I felt reassured by the fact that we were obviously doing something right. Laying there in the dark, my thoughts turned back to my folks. Years before the Fall, they had become the patriarch and matriarch of our extended family, not through assuming it but by natural selection due to their approach to life. This had occurred despite the family thinking that they were quite weird because of their beliefs, their understanding and use of energy, their opinions on the society they lived in, and so on.

  One of the duties that befell them as a consequence, was the care of their respective mothers once the fathers had passed over. With my father working full-time, the bulk of that burden had fallen on my mother, and she had unselfishly just got on with what needed doing. Back then, I had assisted where I could and had not seen anything strange in doing so. Now I realised how unusual our behaviour had been and how few people had looked after their elders, or even cared, being far too absorbed in their own busy lives, preferring to send their elderly parents off to what in most cases were crowded, poorly cared for homes for the aged. Once deposited there, most seldom saw their children again, some never. Was that because of the fact that they did not wish to see what was going to also happen to them as they got older? Were we all so absorbed by the need to look good as portrayed by the system, the same system that was enslaving us? I could not help also wondering whether that same system created the old-age home to remove the wisdom of our elders from us, making us far easier to enslave. I fell asleep quite disturbed at how easy it seems to be to enslave a supposedly intelligent species, while at the same time allowing them to categorically believe they were living a free and democratic life.

  Chapter 24

  Thomas woke me in the morning, with the sun just beginning to peek cheekily over the horizon. There was a light dusting of frost on the ground outside, and the chilly air was still. It would soon begin to tickle the leaves in the trees once the sun warmed sections of the earth and created the environment for a breeze. I smiled gently as I thought about how I knew this. As a young child, my father had explained many things as we travelled in the car, using the ‘dead’ time to educate me. Mom had been content to sit in the back and allow me to sit next to him. Not all of the lessons were physical, so to speak. He had explained many of the so-called esoteric principles to me, as well as the need to look beyond what was said to see the reality and not just accept the face value. ‘Especially with respect to anyone in a government position, or a position of power,’ he had said. ‘The need to lie and deceive is inherent in the system to maintain the illusion of freedom within the enslaved population.’ This had seemed especia
lly hard to do, and I realised while still living in the Hole all those years ago that it was because the system was just so good at it, and it had all the resources it needed to do so. Right now, in our current environment, it was far easier to see how insidious it had been.

  Dave walked in just as Thomas handed me a piece of bread we had been given from the village we had left only yesterday. It was a little hard by now but still edible and tasteful, not like the tasteless stuff we had got used to when I was a child, which was probably the reason I ate so little bread back then. The goat’s milk cheese we enjoyed with the bread was delicious. ‘I checked around, and there was no activity around us,’ quipped Dave. ‘I topped up our water as well while I was out.’ Oh the energy of youth. If he had used the stream we had crossed the day before, it would have taken me half the morning just to get there from here, let alone get back.

  As we made ready to leave, I dropped my bombshell.

  ‘You cannot go down there,’ said Thomas, after hearing my suggestion.

  ‘I agree,’ said Dave, ‘we cannot allow it.’

  ‘I am pleased and touched by your concern,’ I said, ‘but hear me out. We have to start somewhere, and if this small group is all that remains of the largest group we have ever had anywhere near us, then this is the place to start, especially after what we observed yesterday. I believe the old lady down there has been able to positively influence the group, and she is giving us the head start we need. I believe she will be the champion for us in their group. I therefore need to speak with her, and then allow her some time to convince her group of the potential improved life they could enjoy. They will also be a hive of information on the larger area around here as they are obviously very mobile. This town and this little group are the catalyst we need to start our proposed consolidation of the greater area around us. We will never have a better chance than this.’

  They were unconvinced, and I had no option but to love them dearly for their obvious concern over my well-being. I was adamant though; it was worth the risk. ‘We need to get our viewpoint across as soon as possible,’ I told them.

  ‘Now, before I can go down there, we need to know if the hunting group has left the town, so we need to get back up onto that ridge as soon as possible.’ They were unconvinced but were unable to figure out how to stop me without actually physically restraining me. There were some advantages to old age, it seemed.

  The view was breathtakingly beautiful. The lower ground below us was coated in a light sprinkling of mist, with occasional holes scattered about like a moth-eaten cloak. The still-low sun played gently over it, with different hues of white and grey intermingling, moving slowly in an ever-changing tapestry of patterns with the rising breeze as the artist. Despite being enthralled by this, I was afraid we would miss them leaving, but the mist was light to begin with and broke up quickly, leaving the town exposed below us with leftover tufts of cotton candy mist lying in the depressions. There was no movement yet, and I decided to use the time to reinforce the energy field around me to assist in protecting me from whatever was down there. It was very likely there might be leftover pestilence from the diseases that had ravaged the town. I was hoping not, based on the nearly seven months since that occurrence.

  If we were to succeed, we needed to engage these groups now. The rate of increase in our numbers would require us at some point to move out of our villages and into something capable of providing a quick-fix for accommodation. The town below, next to an excellent river and with a large, flattish, and reasonably open grassland around it, was the best opportunity we had. The founding fathers of this town had chosen well, and the weir they had built in the river to provide the town with water during the drier seasons was still intact.

  The meditation, one taught to me by my father, was the Mer-Ka-Ba meditation by Melchizedek36. Although it had appeared strange to me at first, I had persevered all those years ago based on the results I had seen with my father. Soon after he had started with this meditation, he was able to go out in the winter cold wearing a simple short-sleeved shirt, yet before this he had been quite susceptible to cold. I could not fault the results, and mastering the meditation with his aid while living in the Hole had been one of the best things I had done. It had allowed me and many others now to be capable of handling weather and other situations far more competently and easily than we would have without it. I have since then always wondered if this ability to survive weather conditions, as demonstrated by the animal kingdom, was as a result of them having this ability naturally, whilst man has had it taken away over time, making him less able to survive naturally. After all I have experienced, I could not help the sceptic in me rising to the fore again and believing this to be so. After all, how had man been able to survive so well in the cold climes of northern Europe all those years ago?

  Dave tapped me on the shoulder, bringing me back to the present. They had not interrupted the meditation, knowing full well what I was doing and why. I had made it a priority to ensure that all those who ventured out knew, understood, and practiced this meditation. Although it had only taken a few minutes, the small group had already ventured a short distance out of town by the time I was finished.

  ‘Only six,’ ventured Dave. ‘That is not good. If the seventh does not leave, we cannot let you go.’ I did not argue yet, but simply chose to wait until sure the six were well away from the town.

  After a further wait of about the same time it had taken the group to disappear into the denser bush some distance from town, I stood up. The two looked at me, pleading silently, but seeing the resolve they had seen before, they knew that short of physically restraining me they had lost the argument. We walked down the slope between us and the town, taking care to remain unseen as far as possible. We entered the town, walking along one of the main roads parallel to the river but some distance away from it. As agreed in a compromise with them, Thomas veered off towards the river, increasing his pace to allow him to get ahead of Dave and I to take up position on the opposite side of me to that of Dave. I was going to stop in the intersection with the road in which we had seen the children playing and would remain there until hopefully, if noticed, the children would summon the old lady. I had to believe she wanted something better for the children, and that she would be able to identify with me and be willing to talk. Dave and Thomas would stay out of sight, but close, on either side of me. I was not able to talk them out of this and eventually agreed to the protection. I had them promise, though, that they would only react on my signal as we had but one chance at this.

  As we approached the intersection, Dave moved off right into the overgrown garden of what must have been a very pretty house in its time. In the shade of a big tree and hidden in the long grass and bush that now occupied the garden, he was well hidden. Thomas made himself visible to me on the diagonal corner to Dave just long enough to be seen and then seemed to melt into the shadows. It was eerie to see what would have been young innocent men in my youth, with no concept of the need for survival skills, now manage this bush craft with such consummate ease. I reached the middle of the intersection and turned right, facing down the road in which the children had played yesterday. It was still deserted and quiet. I remained still, focusing on keeping my breath regular and my mind calm and relaxed. It was warming up quickly, as it does in this part of the world, with the sun on my right and slightly behind. After a while, I took the walking stick which I normally used to assist me in rough terrain and placed it behind me, resting slightly on the ‘T’ of the stick. This eased the tension in my legs to some extent, and shortly afterwards I heard the children’s voices. The elder one, the girl, appeared first, talking over her shoulder at what was probably her younger brother. They walked into the street, and were careful to look around them, concentrating first on the areas closer to them, checking to see if it was safe. The older woman appeared, obviously to also check before leaving the children to play. With the sun from slightly behin
d me, it was easier for me to see them so I simply waited. I looked back from the children to the old lady and stiffened slightly. She must have seen me as she was staring down the road towards me, her hand trying to shield her eyes from the low sun. I noticed the street had gone quiet and saw the little girl standing some distance away, one hand up to her mouth. I simply waited, making no movement and keeping my face calm and relaxed. I needed them to make the first move.

  For what seemed an age, but probably was not, we simply stood there staring at each other. The mood was broken by the little boy, appearing from the yard of the house a little ahead of his sister on her left. Calling out to her to hurry, he turned towards me and had taken about half a dozen steps before he noticed me. He stopped, a puzzled look on his face. Being a boy, and naturally curious, he began to approach me. I heard the old lady call to him, but he continued on, seemingly unafraid. She decided she had no option then but to come to the boy’s aid, if necessary, and began to walk as quickly as she could towards me. By the time she passed the little girl, still quietly staring at me but her hands now clasped lightly together in front of her, the little boy was standing a few paces from me, one finger in the side of his mouth. Shifting slightly on the walking stick, I asked him his name.