Once upon a time there was a God who could not weep, but needed tears to survive.
So that God created the world and the human beings in it. And he filled their lives with sorrow, and pain, and sadness, and evil, and bitterness, and regret, and meaninglessness, so that they shed many tears. At their deaths, the God could collect their tears for himself and then destroy their bodies and souls into Nothing.
But, owing to their miserable lives, human beings usually died very early out of heartaches or even suicide.
The God wondered if he could find a way to press even more tears out of each human being's life. He thought and thought, and came upon the idea of spreading among them the belief that suffering and shedding tears were a good thing, because there was a Heaven waiting for them afterwards, filled with joy and laughs. This deception worked a bit, but not as much as the God had planned.
So he thought and thought and thought more.
And finally he had the greatest idea: he invented Hope. Whenever the human beings were getting too much pain and sorrow, risking to die, the God would throw Hope at them, making them feel a bit better - and so, afterwards, the God could crush them under even more sorrow, pain, sadness, evil, bitterness, regret, meaninglessness, pressing more tears out of them. And so on, again and again, until Hope had no more effect.
Hope was a brilliant idea. Thanks to it the God could get many, many more tears from each human being than before.
Once upon a later time, a human being named Tess was born. Growing up in sadness, and observing the world around and inside herself, she understood the secret of the evil God and his need for tears.
Tess wasn't deceived by Hope. She understood its true meaning.
So one day she decided never to shed again a single tear. The evil God would get as few tears from her as was possible.
But it was hard. She laughed a lot, to avoid crying. But under the pressure of pain and sadness, she often couldn't help cry.
So she eventually killed herself.
She appeared before the throne of the God. The God's face had an expression in between benign and neutral. He said:
"So you've arrived at the end of your trip, Tessa."
But Tess didn't let herself be deceived by his face. She said:
"I know your secret, you bastard. I won't give you my tears."
The God's face suddenly assumed another expression, his eyes closed, as if saying 'And what do you think you can do about it?':
But he only said:
"Before disappearing, you'll have to walk through the Aisle of Plenty."
And he put Tess at the entrance of the Aisle of Plenty. In the Aisle
there was plenty of sadness,
and pain,
and cries,
and wails,
and supplications,
and grief,
and evil,
and sorrow,
and regret,
and irretrievability,
and broken wishes,
and nos,
and meaninglessness,
as concentrated from the life of hundreds human beings. Tess tried to walk keeping her posture up and straight, but was soon crushed down and started to cry.
"I don't belong here!", said old Tessa out loud.
"Easy, love, there's the Safe Way Home," said the God. "If you cooperate with me I'll shorten your way through the Aisle".
- and, thankful for her Fine Fair discount, Tess Co-operated.
So Tess disappeared into Nothing, leaving only a little pool of
tears, the few she had shed during her life. The evil God stooped down, dipped his finger in the pool, and wet his lips.
"Bitch", he said. "So few tears. You weren't worth the while."
2011-02-02
PierGianLuca Porta Mana