from science fiction…
June 22, 2009
The following bit can be found in most scriptures of the world religions, but I found it in a short science fiction story by Bruce Sterling. I quote it here for inspiration:
” ‘Tell me about this grave,” she said. ‘What are we doing here?’
‘You wanted to see what I do these days. Well, this is what I do.’ Borislav set a pretty funeral bouquet against the headstone. Then he lit candles.
‘Why do you do this?’
‘Why do you ask?’
‘You’re a rational man. You can’t believe in religious rituals.’
‘No,’ he told her, ‘I don’t believe. I know they are just rituals.’
He knew why… He did it because it was a gift. It was a liberating gift for him, because it was given with no thought of any profit or return. A deliberate gift with no possibility of return.
Those gifts were the stuff of history and futurity…the world’s only genuine gifts. All the other things in the world were commodities.”
