Accept, leave or reform the unsustainable
When topics of discourse prove difficult to approach, stories can help us on our way. This famed short story about a graceful city with an unexpected abberation helps me reflect on where I want to apply my capacity for writing, sketching and teaching.
In 1973, Ursula K. Le Guin wrote her award-winning story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. This short science fiction story describes an idyllic city, Omelas, where everyone is happy and healthy. The city celebrates its summer festival with flowers, delicious food, flute playing, and children racing on horseback. The bliss and pleasure embodied by the city feels too good to be true.
And it is.
The wellbeing of its citizens and their ability to flourish is based on a very specific phenomenon: the suffering of a child. In a basement room, this child is kept in darkness, terrified, and without human contact, year in and year out. The description of the child’s suffering is heartbreaking and morbid.
Keep reading » https://axbom.com/omelas/