Oldest Star

In the whole Universe there is always an oldest star, though that it is only true from the perspective of the universe which each of us observes.

This ancient star shines with a pale light, once brilliant, but now dull, a colour of light not seen in ordinary stars, a colour which has no name.

Around this star is a single planet, and the light of the star is so dim that it is always evening on this world, a cool summer evening, with long shadows and clean, crisp air.

It feels like summer did when you were a child, and yet it doesn't; this planet is not Earth, but it is like Earth.

There is a strange uncanniness to this world, where it always feels like the day is winding down, and yet the night never comes; the perpetual evening gives way to relaxation, which gives way to reflection, which easily gives way to reminiscing.

The people of this world are always pleased, for they cherish what is good and remember, always, what they love. There are no nights where demons haunt them, and no cold winter days where the world seems to fight them; every day is cool, but not too cool, and lit, but not too bright.

They are forever coming home, forever finishing the last bit of business for the day, forever anticipating the kiss of their lover as they open the door, forever just about to pick up their smiling children or eye their loyal cat after a hard day in the office.

In this world everything is always good, the people of this world are always anticipating what they love, but this world is no paradise, as it may seem to be, for the light of good memory is pale, and it fails to truly awaken the heart, nor let the mind truly be subsumed in darkness.

In this world, anything which disturbs the natural flow into the warmth and goodness of love does more than annoy, it is destructive.

When a man is anticipating only good things happening to him then anything unwanted is not only unwanted, it is preventing him from reaching the fulfilment of his expectations, and so it becomes bad.

For the people of this world a broken down car send them into floods of tears, or a fit of rage. Receiving bad news is like being stabbed in the heart; pleasant reminiscing so easily turns into overwrought emotion.

Even when they see something which is confusing to them, they easily turn that small disturbance into a source of indignation. When they're walking home, anticipating sitting on their own couch and enjoying a favourite TV show, and they see a person handing out flyers, it causes them great annoyance; it doesn't matter what the flyers are about, it's just the very act of being interrupted which perturbs them.

But, even in there world, there are those who are disenfranchised, and the man handing out flyers on the street, when he is not only ignored, but actively shouted down for his daring to disturb the dreams of others, is often left with a feeling that his well-intentioned cause is more abhorrent to people than it really is.

This Protester doesn't understand that, in this eternal evening, it is not so much what he is protesting about, but that he is protesting at all that is the problem. But he believes that his cause is right, and so he begins to see himself in an antagonistic relationship with his fellow men.

Indeed, he makes himself louder and more brazen, realising that his only mode of interaction with others is in conflict. He wants the freedom to be in mutual love whomever he chooses, or some such, and it is not that most people oppose him, as he believes, but that they oppose any disturbance.

But the Protestor starts to realise that it is only by disturbance that he gets attention.

Society, as the Protestor sees it, is too slow to accommodate the needs of real people, and so he must hasten change, but, in the end, he only hardens resistance.

In the end he is criminalised, not because he is wrong, but because he dares to disturb, and if he gathers too many fellows and makes too much noise then his cause in criminalised, because his cause itself has become associated with the disturbance which he causes, regardless of the goodness of his cause.

On this world, locked in eternal twilight, society isn't indifferent to people's problems, but they act as if they are. On this world, anyone who is different is oppressed, not because society hates them, but just because they tend to disturb the dream.

On this world, queer people are sent to prison.