Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

By Ken Carman
By Ken Carman
 Here’s a short, short story I have written, and rewritten, many times. After all who died in our wars this reminds us there are other ways to lose what they felt they were fighting for. So, somehow, I imagine this story well suited to present to you, my readers, this Memorial Day…

Feeding the Monster
by Ken Carman

  Once there was a land where a tale was told of a monster who stole away freedom, ate it up like other fables told of creatures who ate children, trolls who lived under bridges who did unspeakable things to those who dared to pass over those bridges. One might argue “the monster who stole away freedom” was the lead monster: he who helped all the others commit their horrible acts.
  The people were rightfully afraid of the monster, and were kept so by those who warned others not to hold on too tightly to too many rights or they would not be able to protect them from the monster. They pointed here, there, saying, “See, he’s close, just around the corner, over here, over there. You need to give us enough power to protect you.”
  So they kept giving them their rights so they could be protected. But it seemed the more they gave, the worse the danger became.
  Soon the monster was all too real, and freedom was no more. People who objected disappeared, people the monster didn’t like were not allowed to defend themselves, the innocent were found guilty, the all to convenient guilty weren’t prosecuted, people had no privacy. Tyranny ruled the land.
  As the people suffered, they cried out, “Who gave you the right?”
  The monster smirked and said, “Why, you did,” then ate all those who complained.

                                                    -30-
Inspection is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 30 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks and into the unseen cracks and crevasses that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
©Copyright 2015
Ken Carman and Cartenual Productions
all right reserved

By Ken Carman

Retired entertainer, provider of educational services, columnist, homebrewer, collie lover, writer of songs, poetry and prose... humorist, mediocre motorcyclist, very bad carpenter, horrid handyman and quirky eccentric deluxe.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x