Diary of the Modern Man

Mom! Dad! AHHHHH! HELP!!! Why! AHHHH! Why is this happening!!! Please, please don’t!!! AHH...

I can no longer speak. I can no longer breathe. I can no longer live. I have only a few moments left to think, and think is all I can do. My fear is gone. My fate is sealed. I’m no longer in pain as the shock has taken me. All I can do is warn you, with my last thoughts, my dying moments, not to make my mistakes.

My mistakes are my own whether or not I was the true impetus of them. I am the one who bears the brunt of the consequences for the mistakes I have made, even if they are made in ignorance. Others may be held accountable, should be held accountable, but those who may share in the blame have little care for what happens to others on their behalf. They only care about their ideas, making themselves feel as if they are the philosopher kings that rule the world, the chosen ones who will set the masses on the path to enlightenment, the righteous and virtuous few who can guide humanity to its most prosperous age.

They don’t see the cliff approaching. They imagine the road continuing its ever steady path upward. The logarithmic path of progress ever forward, only slowed by the occasional bump in the road, but never halted. I am the cliff they do not see. My fate is their fate, and the fate of those they lead. I had no reason to question their leadership. I experienced only the positive aspects of their ideas for the entirety of my short life. It wasn’t until this very moment, when all has been lost but my last thoughts, that I realized the death it will bring to us all. I was sheltered from the consequences until the consequences were too heavy to bear.

I left the safety of my land, the safety of my people. I was told others were not so different, that only lies cause us to fear them. I was told I could explore as freely as my heart desired, and that the world was my oyster to be discovered. I was wrong. They were wrong. And now, as I see my body before me, I can only hope that you do not make the same mistake I made, that we don’t all end up having no head.