Humans. Why are they so simple?
Heading topside, I try to work out my frustrations on inanimate objects. I get my heart ripped out so many times because of the people I try to trust. How can I trust a species that looks at me and allows its fight-or-flight instincts to take over?
I can't even remember what got me so angry. All I know is that, as it stands, humans are beyond redemption. Heck, the majority of them don't even think they have anything that they need to be redeemed for. They're a sorry, cocky race, and if they don't change their course soon, they're bound to face destruction. Why can't they see that I want to prevent them from heading down that road? Feeling constricted by all of the open air surrounding me, I decide to head back to the sewers and walk into an alley.
I stop when I hear something behind me. Crying. Bawling, actually. Pressing myself against the wall, I peer out into the street. Up ahead, a little boy is pointing at something on the sidewalk, pressing his face into the leg of a woman whom I assume to be his mother. I look to where he's pointing. There's a dead pigeon on the ground.
"Momma," the kid cries. "Momma, the bird's dead. Why's it dead, Momma?" In that instant, I feel my groundless anger melting as my heart is moved by this boy. He's as lost and confused in this world as I am, and probably even more so.
His mother crouches in front of him and smoothes his hair. "Shh, it's okay, Kevin. It's okay. It only died because someone Up There said it was time for it to die. Eventually, everyone is going to go."
"But why?"
At this, Kevin's mother smiles sadly. "I don't know why, honey. Some things are because that's the way they are. We can't question them, because there are either no answers, or we don't want to know the answers. It's easier to accept that some things were just never meant to change."
As she quiets her son down and gathers him up in her arms, I step further into the shadows. She could have told him that the pigeon had been the victim of an accident, or that it just got really sick. No… she brought up the subject of "Up There." And when asked why, she simply accepted that some things don't change, and expected her son to accept the same notion. He will most likely grow up to teach his children the same thing, who will go on to teach their own descendents.
Why, though? Don't they think they can change if they simply ban together? Are they convinced that their kind will never unite to fight the evils of the world? Or do they just consider themselves fundamentally weak, useless, and flawed? Could it be that their apparent selfishness and one-mindedness are rooted in their own insecurities? My head beginning to hurt, I quickly head back for home.
Humans. Why are they so complicated?