My life was a lie.
Manipulated by government I was taught to worship and follow. Well, my education was a lie too. Here in our society, we have learned that we are the only humans left. At least, the only kind that is actually humane that is. We have grown up taught that the rest of mankind had been destroyed from the nuclear war two centuries ago.
“The radiation made them insane,” they said. “It warped them into barbaric
monsters, incapable of human thoughts and emotions.”
“But not us,” we would chorus. “For our founding fathers hid us away, safe from the
dangerous radiation. We are perfect. Our society is perfect. We will not leave the society.”
That’s what I learned, what I believed, for my entire childhood. Those were the lies my society taught me. But I’m going too fast. You don’t understand, you don’t see why I had to do what I did. So, let me start from the beginning, when I still thought everything was fine, when I was still blind. When I was a child, I remember my first time learning about our society was in 1st grade. The year was 2750 .
The teacher asked, “Who knows what it’s like above the ground? Above our lovely underground society?”
Nobody knew of course, we were only 6 years old.
“Up there, there is nothing but waste. It’s all barren grounds incapable of bearing
food, air full with poisonous gases that burns your throat and waters your eyes, and Demons everywhere. Who can tell me what Demons are?"
“Bad?”one kid answered, with the sort of wide-eyed innocence children have, trusting everything the adults say. It’s why the society starts poisoning minds young.
“Yes, they are very bad, but there’s a bit more than that. Demons were once humans
like us, but then the radiation from the nuclear war in 2525 changed them into monsters. They are like robots, you can’t reason with them, and no matter how much you plead, they will not give you mercy.” And so, started the poisoning, which continued the next year.
“How many of you know what Demidemons are?” my 2nd grade teacher inquired.
One girl raised her hand and replied, “they’re like Demons but not as bad.”“Absolutely correct Lea! The Demidemons had been warped by the radiation, but not as badly as the Demons. We only deal with Demidemons because it’s necessary in order to keep our society perfect and protect our citizens. Now, I’m going to teach you all a motto okay?”
“Okay!” we chorused.
“Teachers or a person of authority will say, ‘The radiation made them insane. It
warped them into barbaric monsters, incapable of human thought and emotion.’ You will say back ‘But not us. For our founding fathers hid us away, safe from the dangerous radiation. We are perfect. Our society is perfect. We will not leave the society.’ Now you say it.”
“But not us. For our founding fathers hid us away, safe from the dangerous radiation.
"We are perfect. Our society is perfect. We will not leave the society,” we repeated
back.
She grinned toothily at us and the lesson ended.
In 8th grade they told us about the pairing and job assignments.
In a Perfect World
76