The Great Idea

gbh

There was an island far far away. On this island there were many tribes. War was a common place occurrence, the slightest thing could start it off. Any difference of opinion usually resulted in war and man made catastrophe. The people there were petty and self interested. They could only think of their own personal wants and desires. They lived from day to day, hand to mouth, much like animals do. They were consumed by material wants or a need to fill their bellies, again like animals.

In short, there were no great ideas on this island. Great ideas were above the people, and never was one entertained for long. The people felt that great ideas were not for them, or there was a suspicion of great ideas. And as a consequence, life generally was miserable, as there was a preference for an animal like existence to a great existence.

One day a man landed on the island having sailed there. He was welcomed at first and given all the island had to offer. Over time he came to know the island and its inhabitants, its customs but most of all its problems.

One day an idea struck on him and he truly thought it was a great idea, which would help all the people of the island. This great idea made him smile when he thought about it, and he could see it in practise in his mind, how well it would work. The people would thank him for it, record the day he landed on the island as a glorious one. His great idea was to bring peace once and for all to the island and for everyone to work together as friends.

And so he went around to all the tribes on the island and invited their leaders to a meeting at a particular spot on the island at a particular time. On the date in question, all the tribal leaders and some of the people were gathered at the spot. And he stood up and began.
“Welcome one and all, I suppose you would like to hear the reason I gathered you here. I have studied you people and the problems of this island. And I have come up with a great idea to resolve those problems once and for all, and to bring peace and prosperity to this island for one and all.” The people began to listen more intently. “What I speak of is this, I believe there should be a single government of this island, a single parliament where representatives of each tribe are elected, they’re should be a single judicial system where grievances are settled legally and without the use of violence, there should be one currency, one police force and this island should become one country ruled by the people”.

After he stopped speaking there was silence in the crowd. He felt he had impressed them with his great idea and any rational person would be impressed by his great idea. Then one person stood up and shouted out. “We do not understand what it is you are saying”. Another stood up and shouted, “Yes we do not understand and because we do not understand, we do not like it”. A third said “You are trying to change our ways”.
Again and again people stood up and generally the theme of their interventions ran like this: “We do not understand, we do not like it, it is different, it is new”.


Finally an influential tribal chief stood up, and in his self important way, looked at the crowd and turned to this visitor.

“You sir”, he began, “have come to our island. You have partaken of our hospitality, you have wanted for nothing, we have provided and gave you food and gave you a home. And this is how you repay us? By insulting us like this? We thought you were from another world when you first arrived, but now we think you are a demon come here to bring us ruin. We ask you now to leave our island and never return for your safety cannot be guaranteed if you remain. Our island is not perfect and there is much wrong with it, but it is still our island and we prefer it to remain the same. So please, be gone and take your great idea with you, it is no longer required here among us”.
And the tribal chief sat down and a loud applause broke out.

A mob now was forming and the visitor felt he had better make his way to his boat. Every so often as he did so, he looked over his shoulder and saw the mob stare at him as it followed at a distance. He boarded his boat and hoisted the sail and lifted the anchor and allowed the wind carry him away from the island.

He returned to his own land and occasionally he would wonder what happened to those people. One day while reading a newspaper, he came on a story of a ship that had picked up refugees in a small raft. The refugees related of how they had left their island behind, that it was wracked by war and conflict and differences and it was no longer habitable. Most of the people had been carried off by the war and the remainder lived in daily fear of reprisals. The visitor reading this did not think much of it until the refugees related the name of the island. It was the island he had visited.
.

Dylan_James

gbh wrote: »

It was the island he had visited.

And?

gbh

And thats the end of the story...

(constructive criticism remember)

anyways it lacks polish I know but i wrote it in about 15-20 minutes just to pass the time and it was really the first draft...don't worry i don't think i will take the world by storm i know my limitations...its just a story nothing else...some people will think its ok, some won't...

but all stories end somewhere...