Solomon's Private File #372
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 32 in this story, in the Fall of 2058.
Solomon's Private File #372 "Hagia Sophia"
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The new President of Myanmar asked to see me. We did polite things,
then she said, "I am asked to ask you for recordings of all the crimes
that were involved in your action here." I said, "For what purpose?"
She said, "So we can prosecute them." I said, "And why would you do
that?" She was confused. She said, "What do you mean?" I said, "You
couldn't possibly make them suffer legally, for their crimes, more than
they are suffering now. And they are doing it where others can see and
appreciate the lesson in it. That's VERY important, to motivate them
not to have to experience that themselves." She said, "Oh!" I said,
"And one more thing. The Monks have only a few more days before they
will be able to kill themselves. Most of the others have much less than
a year before that. With the speed of your legal system, they won't see
the conviction. You would have to prevent them from killing themselves.
That would be cruel. I would not allow that." She said, "What would you
do in that situation?" I said, "I would give them a poison pill. Their
choice to use it. You know they would. I give just consequences. Less,
would be unjust. So would more. You are understanding that politics can
interfere with justice, even against your own will and power."
She said, "I do see that. Very frustrating." I said, "All new leaders
of a country discover that it isn't like they thought it would be, and
because of that, they can't be who they are and want to be. I feel sad
for them. I do not recommend the position. The best people for it,
would be those who would also suffer the most for it. As I do." We
shared our tears in a hug. I said, "Your laws don't support punishing
those police who didn't act. New laws that could, should not be made to
apply to the past. That isn't just. People should not be held
responsible for not obeying a law that didn't exist when they had done
what it would apply to." She said, "I see that. More frustration." I
said, "You wouldn't feel that, if you were in that situation. A new
fine for making a wrong turn with your car, that didn't exist when you
did it?" She said, "Oh! I understand." I said, "The principles of law,
and its specific laws, must be applied justly and equally to all, or
the legal system is never respected, and neither would be those
applying it. Another way of looking at this, is to put yourself in
their place, as I showed you, and feel how they would feel. If more
would do that, we would have a better world." A nod, and more tears.
I said, "But those police are not totally immune from suffering. They
saw what happened, and know more, in their dreams. They will have
significantly less happiness in their lives because of that. No, I'm
not causing that, they are. They know they are in part responsible for
the consequences their friends and families are suffering. They would
like to fool themselves into blaming me for that, but they know the
truth. They could have prevented what happened. They know that. They
helped their people to become monsters. There is a lot of guilt in
that. They can't avoid all of it. Not in their dreams. They didn't do
their duty. They violated their oath. They should no longer be police.
Who will hire them, after this? Yes, they will suffer. Karma is the
ultimate justice." She had more tears.
I said, "Here is a list of those police who didn't do their duty, and
here are videos that show it. Going on the internet, too. And with this
meeting, if you allow." She said, "I request it. I was going to, before
you offered." I said, "I know. The world is watching. I hope your
people will help you to show all, that your people and your country are
better than the few who have caused so much negative news recently."
She said, "That is my hope, also. Thank you for what you have done for
us, and for the world." We hugged, and I shifted out.
Mom said, "I wondered when you would get to that." I said, "I didn't.
All in its right time." We hugged.
I asked to meet with the PM of Turkey. I shifted there by
appointment, and said, "I asked to speak with you, not them. It would
have been polite of you to inform me there would be others present. I
will wait while you correct this, and hope the bombs don't explode in
that time." He asked them to leave. I said, "This has happened before.
You may wonder why you haven't heard of it. I think you can guess why."
He had to smile, and said, "I understand." I said, "An anarchist group
have planted some bombs in Hagia Sophia. What shall we do about that?"
He said, "Oh! I request that they not be allowed to explode. I further
request time research files on this subject." I said, "Here is the
information." He said, "They should know you wouldn't let this happen."
I said, "True, but they might have fooled themselves into thinking I
would only look for Islamists to do something like that. Nobody
understands that I don't look for anything. I know all in my mind
without effort. I know every thought, every feeling, and every action.
I don't want to, but I can't choose not to."
I said, "I suppose I should present all this to the authorities in
Istanbul. I came here first, as a courtesy." He said, "I appreciate
that. I apologize for my own lack of courtesy, in going beyond what the
meeting was assumed to be." I said, "By way of acceptance, I should
tell you that you handled this er, situation, better than most." He had
to grin. My offer to hug was accepted. I shifted out.
I said to the Mayor of Istanbul, "I apologize, but there is something
of an emergency in process. I've informed the PM, but the issue is
here, and so is the work." He said, "Please tell me." I did. He said,
"That's bad. Many tourists! Please excuse me while I make some calls."
He did, and soon some people came running. I said to the Chief of
Police, "Bombs in Hagia Sophia, Here's files and crystals of all the
information. I won't let them explode, but they should be disarmed and
removed, and the tourists be encouraged not to require rubber
underclothes." He tried not to smile while he saluted us, and then left
to start giving the necessary orders. His second said to me, "I ask
that you transport the conspirators to the holding cell I show in my
mind." I said, "Done. Clothes and IDs are on the floor outside of it.
You are the first to request me to use information in the mind of a
police official, for efficient action work, as a normal procedure. I
congratulate you, with respect." He felt very honored. Too much to
speak, actually. He bowed and left.
I said to the Mayor, "I actually had a person faint on receiving a
compliment from me." They tried not to smile. One said, "You didn't use
a Corps action." I said, "I don't, where it could be significantly
political. And with what was one of the most important holy places in
the world. And where it will be useful, I ask the effective leader of
the country, first, before I act. That isn't usually made public." One
said, "Will you make this public?" I said, "No. No lesson here. Your
choice what you do with it, but better to ask your PM first, and don't
lie about anything involving me. I should leave you to this. But
first?" We hugged. They did make it public.
I asked to see the Director of the Bureau, and said to him,
"Emergency. Death by cop suspect is approaching the main entrance.
Permission to have the guards clear out the civilians." He said,
"Given." I did that. They did a good job with that. He said to my
presence in the office, "What are you going to do about him?" I said,
"I'm going to let him fire the gun, but it won't plug anybody. Then
I'll take it away from him as er, me. He wants to die, he'll have to
try a lot harder in prison." He said, "You want him to commit a crime
so he can be locked up. Go ahead."
I said to the guards as Sol, "I'm going to let him shoot, to
establish the crime. I'll catch the bullet. Trust me?" The big one
said, "I do!" Grins. I said, "Don't shoot him. Scare him all you want,
though." Laughter. I said, "He won't see me until I catch the bullet.
Then I'll take his gun. Here he comes!" Perp came in the entrance, and
lifted his gun, and fired between the guards. I became visible catching
the bullet. Then I took his gun. I said to him, while two guards rushed
to hold him, "They don't really need redecorating, and not with such
minimal ventilation as you would start with. You didn't shoot at the
guards. Why?" He said, "I don't want to talk about it." I said,
"Neither do I, but I'm doing it. You didn't want to hurt them, but you
didn't think that through. You didn't consider how they would feel in
being responsible for your death. Did you really want to make them feel
that for the rest of their lives? You know YOU wouldn't want to feel
that, yourself." I said, "Let him loose." They released him into my
arms, and I hugged him with love. He sobbed loudly.
I said to the arriving agents, "Perp room. With me." Nods. We went.
They watched through the mirror. I said to the man, "Misha, you
committed a serious crime. If there had been the usual crowd of people
there, you might have killed somebody. I think you didn't want to do
that. You wanted them to kill you. Is life so bad for you, that you
want to die?" He said, "I don't want to talk about it." I said, "Oh, I
don't blame you! Ironic, though. You know it will make you feel at
least a little better, and you don't want to feel better. You have to
admit that's a little odd, even for ME." He had to smile. He said,
"Alright. I've done bad things." I said, "Of course. Everybody has.
Whatever you've done bad, I did much more of, in my past lives. I sure
do know about bad! So you should know I really know how it is." He
looked thoughtful, and said, "Did you ever kill yourself because of
it?" I said, "No, not directly, but I did do extra dangerous things on
purpose that could have killed me, and some did. Some of them were
something like you intended. One time I deliberately insulted a man so
outrageously, he actually liked killing me." He laughed. I said, "Part
of me at the time, thought that was funny, too. Another part was
thinking, 'How much of this is it going to take?'" He laughed again. I
said, "You don't know how hard it is to think up great insults in that
"What was it that finally caused him to act?" I said, "Er, something
about his sister and a donkey." More laughter. I said, "Well, something
had to explain how her children looked." Louder laughter.
I said, "A lot of my work out there involves planetary governments
acting badly. You might guess I had some big juicy insults for them.
There are people out there who've murdered whole planets full of
people, billions, and using weapons that literally ripped people apart.
And when they didn't need to. On a planet I worked on, there were
rulers who required children with psionic talent, to cut open their
friends' guts to read the future in their sliced open intestines, while
they were still living and conscious, which doesn't actually work! You
don't know what bad REALLY is. YOU are NOT like that." He cried in my
arms.
When he stopped, I said, "I can't be your counselor. I'm a physical
witness to your crime. So, you shouldn't tell me anything that should
be confidential. Actually, I think I just seriously annoyed some people
with that." He had to grin. I said, "Humor is always your friend, even
when you have no other. But you do have me. I will always love you.
NOTHING can ever stop that. You didn't intend to hurt anybody. That
should count in your favor. Remember this; there is always hope. Never
give that up." He said, "When things were the worst for you, and you
were ready to give up, did something happen that made it better?" I
said, "Yes, often. More often, I discovered that what I thought was so
terrible, actually wasn't, and even helped to change me for the better.
Attitude can significantly influence how we view things, and ourselves.
A lot of our problems we cause ourselves, by not seeing them in the
best way. Then there is this. We learn by making mistakes, and somehow
surviving them. Show me somebody who's never made a mistake, and I'll
show you somebody who never did much of anything." Grins.
I stood, and said, "There's going to be some rough times ahead for
you, but they won't last forever. As in all things, there will be
situations and opportunities for you to make the best of them, for you
and your future. Look for them. Use them to make a better you. You are
the master of you and your future, even when it doesn't look like it.
Make it a good one, for you, and for me. Please." He had some tears,
and we shook hands. I left. There was a whole crowd of people in the
observation room. I said, "Big audience. Oh." I ported a box of tissues
to me, and they passed it around. The senior person there, said, "We
haven't seen you like this before." I said, "Many have, as individuals.
Yes, even politicians, and some here have admitted that. This is what a
psychologist and religious counselor does. This is who I really am.
Prophet by duty, costs extra. Yes, it does cost me."
I said, "He's yours now. He's not nearly as bad as he thinks he is.
Not just because he appreciates my humor." Smiles. I shifted out.
Director said to my presence with him, "Thank you for letting me see
that. I think it was good for us that they saw it, too." I said, "Might
not be so good for me." He said, "True. And you knew that ahead of
time." My pink elephant honked at him, and he laughed. I gave him a
crystal of the action, and left.
Mom said, "That action with the intestines. Please?" I pushed it at
her. I said to Galya, "You won't want to see that one." Mom said, "I
have to agree. Would be good for a show, but they wouldn't have that
opening. Literally. Then it would lose too much of its lesson." I said,
"There are a lot of things out there that I don't dare tell you about,
for your own sanity." Galya said, "But it hasn't ruined you." I said,
"Are you sure about that?" Grins and pokes. I said, "The more I can
take, the more I'm pushed to take it. You know He wouldn't ruin me."
Mom said, "I'm not so sure about that." I told them about Him restoring
lives for me. They had some wows for that. Galya, said, "Thank you. I
feel better now, knowing His care for you." We felt a touch full of
love. We gave Him ours, too.
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Grant
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