I ask questions to better understand, to avoid making too many mistakes. I'm not quite arrogant enough to believe I'll make none, but believing things without questioning them can be dangerous.
[ She likely knows the suggestion here, but he'll continue anyway. ]
I was always told, when I was young, that things were a certain way. That my family was dangerous, and I was the only one who was different. That I was different because I had been helped, in a way that the rest of my family could not be. It's nice to be special. I questioned other things, like the nature of the help they offered, the conditions around it, the way it was given -- but I never questioned the rest.
For everyone to be safe, I was told, the rest of my family had to die. I was afraid that if I didn't agree, I might be the next target. It might be proof I wasn't as different as they hoped. They are beyond help, I was told. Corruption has taken them. There is no way to free them of it. I believed it. My family were, after all, dangerous. There was no doubt about that, and people older than me assured me there was no way to get through to them. I helped make sure my family were all killed. That is what I was told had to be done.
[ And don't we all do what has to be done, in the end? He tilts his head, studying her. ]
Years later, I found a brother of mine. I thought I was the only one left, but he'd been living away from our family. The corruption had begun to call to him. I researched, and I made him something to silence it. He recovered. I sometimes wonder, now, if I could have made something stronger. If the rest of my family could have been saved, instead of sacrificed to protect people, if I had only asked questions earlier. If all that death, by my hand, could have been avoided.
[ Death is too often the first choice, rather than the last resort. He drops his eyes to the fire, turns the meat a little. ]
I hope for your sake that your son is still there.
no subject
Still, there is something else to be said: ]
I ask questions to better understand, to avoid making too many mistakes. I'm not quite arrogant enough to believe I'll make none, but believing things without questioning them can be dangerous.
[ She likely knows the suggestion here, but he'll continue anyway. ]
I was always told, when I was young, that things were a certain way. That my family was dangerous, and I was the only one who was different. That I was different because I had been helped, in a way that the rest of my family could not be. It's nice to be special. I questioned other things, like the nature of the help they offered, the conditions around it, the way it was given -- but I never questioned the rest.
For everyone to be safe, I was told, the rest of my family had to die. I was afraid that if I didn't agree, I might be the next target. It might be proof I wasn't as different as they hoped. They are beyond help, I was told. Corruption has taken them. There is no way to free them of it. I believed it. My family were, after all, dangerous. There was no doubt about that, and people older than me assured me there was no way to get through to them. I helped make sure my family were all killed. That is what I was told had to be done.
[ And don't we all do what has to be done, in the end? He tilts his head, studying her. ]
Years later, I found a brother of mine. I thought I was the only one left, but he'd been living away from our family. The corruption had begun to call to him. I researched, and I made him something to silence it. He recovered. I sometimes wonder, now, if I could have made something stronger. If the rest of my family could have been saved, instead of sacrificed to protect people, if I had only asked questions earlier. If all that death, by my hand, could have been avoided.
[ Death is too often the first choice, rather than the last resort. He drops his eyes to the fire, turns the meat a little. ]
I hope for your sake that your son is still there.