Solomon's Private File #432
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 35 in this story, in the Summer of 2061.
Solomon's Private File #432 "POW"
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form, that of an upright lizard. I said, "I am Solomon." She said, "I
see the scheduled appointment, but not why." I said, "It's for a policy
discussion." She said, "Which policy?" I said, "You plan to execute
prisoners of war. That's unwise." She said, "We do plan to do that.
They killed our people, so we'll kill them. Why is that unwise?" I
said, "There are two reasons why that's unwise. The first is
philosophical. Soldiers don't make war, or decide how to accomplish it,
politicians do. For somebody who strikes you, do you punish the hand
that did it, or act against the whole person? Is the hand truly
responsible?" She said, "I understand what you're saying, but we have
only the hand to punish." I said, "That doesn't make it just. They are
patriots of their country, just as your soldiers are to your country.
They did their duty, even though they didn't want to. Who really wants
to fight in a war?" She said, "I understand. The other reason?"
I said, "Often in war, what one country does that is bad, the other
one will copy. That could be for keeping the advantages even, or for
revenge. They do not kill prisoners of war. In fact, they honor them as
worthy adversaries, and treat them well. If you care about your
soldiers, you might not want to motivate them to change that policy.
Remember, all wars end. How will the peace be constructed? How will the
other nations think of you, and how will that affect how they act
toward you?" She said, "They will fear us." I said, "True. That will
cause them to isolate you, which will cause trade problems, more for
you, than for them. And if you attack one of them, they will, knowing
what to expect from you, hold nothing back in completely ruining your
country, and with the help of others."
She said, "I don't believe you." I said, "Belief doesn't change
reality. There is an alternative. A prisoner exchange. I can arrange
that." She said, "Then we wouldn't be able punish those who killed our
people. No." I said, "You will not allow your own patriots to come
home, so you can kill your prisoners. What will your own military think
of that, and of YOU? They have weapons. And your people? Who will want
to join the military after that?" She said, "They thirst for revenge."
I said, "That you caused in them. Change it." She said, "I would lose
power if I did that." I said, "Bad actions have bad consequences. That
is the nature of reality, and can't be avoided. Better to stop making
more, and repair what has already been done, than create more bad
things that the whole world will suffer from." She said, "Killing our
prisoners will cause that?" I said, "Everything we all do, causes the
future we have to live and die with. All actions cause results, many of
which are obvious to those who think clearly. If they want to. Most
don't, preferring their own selfish fantasy over reality. Then the
world cries."
She said, "You speak persuasively. That's not enough. I rule here! I
will not change my plans." I said, "You were a General, before you
became a political leader. As that General you were, how would you have
decided this?" She said, "I'm not that now! I care nothing for the
military but for it's use in exercising my power." I said, "Isn't it
unwise of you to tell me this? I could tell the military what you said.
That would make them unhappy with you." She said, "You will not leave
here alive without my permission. They won't know." I said, "Not alive?
How would you cause that?" She said, "My personal guards are watching,
and can shoot you at any time." I said, "What if they disagree with
you, and agree with me?" She said, "They are loyal to me!" I said, "Not
patriots?" She said, "It's the same!" I said, "No, it isn't. What is
right for one person is not always right for an entire nation, no
matter who that person is."
She said, "There is something strange about you, which is the only
reason for your continued life. You show no fear, where others would be
very afraid." I said, "I am me, not another. I'm not responsible for
how others feel, only for myself. I have no personal fear." She said,
"Why?" I said, "You would not believe the reason for that." She said,
"Back to that in a minute. Are you of this country?" I said, "I am not
of any country of this world." She said, "But your parents must of been
from some country." I said, "You are making assumptions. Existence is
vast. This world is very small in comparison." She said, "Are you
claiming to be from a different world?" I said, "No. Not this one,
though." She said, "How can you not be from this world, and not from
another?" I said, "Worlds are not the only source of intelligence.
There is much of reality that you are unable to understand."
I said, "There is something more you should understand. This meeting
has been far from private." She shouted, "Guards! Kill him!" Nothing
happened. I said, "Your statements about the military were severely
under-appreciated by them. They have replaced your guards." She said,
"How do you know this?" I said, "I know all." She said, "I don't
understand." I said, "You don't want to. I know all that is, and has
been. Select a time and place in your past, that no other knows about,
and I will show it to you." She said, "I don't believe you!" I said, "A
fool rejects the possibility of proof. Does that describe you?" She
told me, and I showed her setting up a practical joke at the academy,
in a long traveling shot. After that, I said, "Your victim was injured
in that. Here's what he felt." I made her feel it, and she jerked
upright, and almost screamed. After it stopped, she said, "Who ARE
you?" I said, "I told you, I'm Solomon."
I said, "You have failed to consider some things. The prisoners of
war that the other country holds of your people, have friends and
families here, who value their lives over the deaths of foreign
soldiers, including one of your personal guards. Your selfishness made
you blind to that political reality. Are you going to change your
decision?" She said, "No! Never! I rule here!" I said loudly, "You may
now enter." A lot of people came into the room. I said, "My preliminary
diagnosis is severe megalomania, resulting in life incompetency. More
will be discovered in a full assessment. She is unfit for duty." The
Surgeon General said, "I concur." The Vice Premier said, "By law, I
must assume the position of Premier." I said to her, "What changes
would you make?" She smiled, and said, "Rule by reality and honor. We
WLLL ask to trade prisoners of war. We will not treat those we have,
badly." I said, "Is this war really necessary?" She said, "We will
examine that carefully. I think it may not be."
A general said, "We didn't fully understand your plan, and did NOT
realize how capable you were in it!" I said, "That's because there
wasn't much of a plan. I would talk, and you would act if you felt it
was necessary. I didn't even tell you what to do. This is your country,
so you should choose, all of you, what happens in it. All I did was
show things." She said, "Did you know that was all you needed to do?" I
grinned, and said, "Yes." Grins in return. I said, "If the war stops, I
offer to heal all on this world at once. Yes, you heard me correctly."
One said, "Are you God?" I said, "No. Chief Assistant, yes." I said to
the former Premiere, "You wondered why I had no fear. I am unable to
die." I said to all, "I will know when there is no war. Then I will ask
if you want the healing. Honor is its own reward, even if I add a
little to it." Smiles. I shifted into a big ball of light, and then
faded away. They all stared at it in shock and awe, for almost a whole
minute. One said, "REAL power, but the opposite of megalomania!"
Thoughtful nods.
Mario ran the action on CNN, with breaks. Then he said, "I have to
agree with that general. Capable!" I said, "It wasn't that difficult to
have her show who she was. Stringing it along was the problem, so the
guards could be replaced." He said, "You could have prevented their
shooting." I said, "Then that action would have MY solution, rather
than theirs." He said, "Oh! Right. They have to know they did it, that
they are creating their own future." I said, "Yes, or they won't
believe they could have. Things would have become worse. This was a
critical time in the evolution of their societies." He said, "I think I
understand."
He said, "Were they all female?" I said, "In that action, yes.
Females are the dominant gender of that species. Males raise the
children." He said, "What level are they compared to us?" I said,
"Their world is equivalent to how Earth was at about 1939. The two
waring adjoining nations would be something like a more equal in size
and resources Canada and America." I said with a smile, "No, I'm not
going to say which was which." He grinned, and said, "You knew we would
want to know that." I said, "And you knew it wouldn't be good to say
it. Doesn't apply, actually, but you know people would want to make it
so." We went to break.
Back, Mario said, "In this action, we see the full power of the
Golden Rule, and the folly, actually insane folly, of breaking it." I
said, "Yes, more than might be apparent. Had she executed the POWs, she
would have started their first world war. And she would have lost
that." He said, "Wow! Will those generals know?" I said, "Eventually,
they'll come to that conclusion. Smart people." He said, "Who started
the war?" I said, "She made them start it." He grinned, and said, "I
get it. She manufactured an excuse to declare war?" I said, "Yes.
Staged incidents played up big with a media connection, a Hurst-like
character. She was losing her political base. Nothing like being
attacked by outsiders to firm that up. A popular tactic of dishonorable
people; create an enemy out of almost nothing. Much easier than making
people FOR something. It works well with entire populations. They will
even go against their own self interests, to be against something, and
against people who are different from them, most of all. Then they can
feel falsely superior, as they let themselves sink ever further into
depravity. We've seen this in our own history, time and again. That
slippery slope is covered with razor blades, that shreds those
societies to the bone in savage indifference for all that is good.
Don't make God cry. Don't do it here." We closed the show.
Mario was in tears. I hugged him, and said, "A little too intense.
I'm sorry." He said, "Don't be! It was RIGHT! We need to hear things
like that. I know your people are telling you that." I said, "Stop
looking!" He had laugh. I said, "Talking points for your followup.
People who do what she did, don't stop short of death. What they do to
other people, they will do to their own, the very people who allowed
her to manipulate them. They will NOT stop of their own will. Such a
person is the ultimate betrayer. They even cause themselves to be
betrayed by life. They won't realize until the end, if ever, that
winning won't make them happy for more than a few moments. They will
never have true friends, fooling themselves that they do, and never
knowing the real reason why they despise them. They fear assassination,
and rightly so, with no moments of real peace. They live tortured
lives, and live to make others feel that to their very souls, never
knowing truly why. It doesn't help them. Nothing will. A very
charitable person could pity such monsters, but that would take a lot
of effort." He said, "Wow!"
I said, "True." He said, "I have to ask, were you like that in some
past lives?" I said, "Yes, but that's not significant now that I know
all. That includes the past lives of everybody." He said, "Oh! I still
can't reason well with that." I said, "Even my own people have that
problem. It's one of those things where either you're in it, or you're
not. I've let your crew record that. Use it if you want, with no
edits." He said, "We will. Thank you." We hugged again, and I shifted
out. Mom said to him in the air, "And he used no special powers but
sharing projections of that. THAT is remarkable, in changing an entire
world." Mario said, "Right. Thanks." She said, "You're welcome."
I said, "They would have noticed that. Pride spoke." She grinned, and
said, "Yes, but for you. Enlightened are allowed that." I said, "That
might not be listed as such in the manual." Grins and hugs
That action and followup caused a lot of comment, almost all
favorable to me. Religious people were VERY appreciative of what I
said, and praised me a lot. Leaders of some countries started changing
some of their positions on some things. That was noticed. Then I
visited some of them, and said, "You and your family have become too
rich at the expense of your country. I know where all your money is,
and how you came by it. You don't need all of that. Nobody needs that
much. Your country does. I will have no problem in making all that
information public. You might, though. I would have less of a reason to
do that, the less you had that could cause that. I hope we understand
each other well, now. Remember, I know all. Good for all, is better
than much too much for a few, don't you think?" They said they did.
Some actually asked who they should give the extra money to. I told
them, and said, "You don't have to mention me at all. Just don't lie."
Some of those rulers became popular with their people for that, but
not so popular with their extended family, until they told them why
they did it, and what would have happened if they hadn't. I wasn't all
that popular with them. That didn't hurt me at all. Some of those
leaders asked to see me, and cried in my arms, telling me how happy
that had made them, giving money to their people. To them I said, "Did
you think I asked for that, just for them?" More tears. My family said
a collective wow about that. In a meeting, I said, "After that show, it
was the right time to do that. They really didn't want to seem like the
Premiere in that action. This gave them something they could use to
show that, and in good justice, even though that part wasn't made
public. So sad they had to be surprised that it would make them feel
good doing it. Another goal accomplished, though. They've improved.
This won't fix it for the next batch of leaders. We'll have to do it
again and again." George said, "By the Corps then." I said, "That's why
I let you monitor it." Grins and hugs.
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Grant
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