Pete_SSAC Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 I’m cheating a bit on the soapbox this week. The following is the first chapter from my next novel, “The Revolution”. A story about how three people lead a group of protesters against a war and the government’s increasing power and how it leads to the destruction of the country. Additionally it has a bit of fantasy twist to it. While the current events are the basis for the story, this does not take place in the US, or on this planet for that matter. Just, something very similar to it. Look for “The Revolution” coming to your local bookstore or Amazon.com on the day after hell freezes over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- War. The act of violent aggression that takes place between two or more factions of people. An event that has happened since the dawn of man, where two rival tribes would savagely attack and kill each other. First, the weapons were nothing more than their own bodies. But with the invention of tools brought around the use of stones and large branches for use of blunt instruments. Now, killing was easier. It’s a lot harder to crack a skull open with a bare hand than it is with a club. With the discovery of using flint to sharpen things, spears were invented to keep distance from you and your victim. The knowledge how to control and summon fire at will started a new revolution in weaponry and warfare. Not only could fire itself become a weapon, but it could be used to forge metals. Now swords, maces, flails and armor replace the primitive sticks and stones. Along with the inventions of Medieval weapons came a new classification of weapons. The projectiles. Bows and arrows were the first, however the most important invitation was soon to be discovered: gunpowder. Rifles, crossbows, they shared one thing in common. No longer did you have to be up close to your opponent to kill them. You no longer had to feel his breath, have his blood spill on you, or watch the life drain out of his eyes as you killed him. Rivals were no longer human, but mere targets off in the distance. This is when war started to loose it’s human face. Technology improved, artillery was invented. Now it was possible to kill groups of people from a distance. And as that technology improved, that human face of war, and the imagery of what you were doing to those you are attacking became less and less clear. The invention of airplanes and their military use furthered this by being able to drop bombs from thousands of feet up, killing hundreds of people with a push of a button, and not having to se a single charred corpse. Guns improved, bombs improved and wars that originally would kill hundreds now killed thousands. And with the invention of Atomic Weapons, thousands of lives could be blinked out in a second. Now, in modern times. We fight push button wars. A seaman on a ship pushes a button to launch a missile, without knowing of how many will die , military or civilian, because of that push of a button. Warfare is now a video game. In this nation we were also blessed because very few wars have been fought on our soil, and none has occurred for nearly 150 years. All the time we saw destruction, it was in a faraway and foreign place. The dead belonged to other nationalities. We could sleep soundly in our beds without fear of being bombed in the night. We fell into a lull, a comfort. That is until the attack that killed thousands of average everyday civilians like us that were just doing their jobs. That’s when the reality hit. Since we were so unfamiliar with this, and the sudden shock, we wanted to do anything to keep it from happening again. And our government took notice of the sudden lust for protection. They looked at this as their chance to go ahead and seize some control from the people, in return to provide them with the false sense of safety. And when the people demanded a scapegoat and that the perpetrators be brought to justice, they found this the opportunity to attack an old enemy from before. Soon the flames of war were fanned, and everything started to come undone. However, not everyone was so quick to give up their liberties, or head into war under suspicious circumstances. Large protests arose in the major cities and on college campuses. And at the time I was a 21 year old sophomore at Vance University. I would go to those protests, watching, analyzing, and trying to figure out just how I can make a difference in all this. Little did I know that I would lead to the deaths of thousands and cause the country to tear apart at the seams… ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pretty good, huh? “The Soapbox” is a Weekly ranting by Andrew Denst. It is carried in Syndication at: Broken World - Shadows Forum - http://www.sheabennett.com/brknwrld/wbboar...d.php?boardid=5 White Sox Interactive - Parking Lot Forum -http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/vbullet...hp?s=&forumid=6 SoxNet - Off Topic Forum -http://www.soxtalk.com/index.php?act=SF&f=1 And is sent out via e-mail. To unsubscribe to “The Soapbox” send an e-mail to Idontgiveas***@pissoff.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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