The Forgotten History Of The Human Race—Part Two

Days turned to months in paradise, and though no one discussed it openly, it was clear no one was planning on leaving. 

People went about their days, avoiding eye contact with one another, hoping no one would breach the subject. 

But one evening, as the villagers were sharpening their jagged rocks preparing for the night’s protection, the eldest member of the village took it upon himself to walk amongst the villagers, asking everyone to join him in the communal cave for what would be their very first town meeting. 

"My dear friends, it is obvious we are to remain here in paradise permanently, Great Wind willing, and though I understand we haven’t had a need to communicate openly with each other in the past, I think it’s important that from now on, we do, for the sake of our future here together. 

The Great Wind has given us our biggest gift yet—like the birds that nest, we too now have a home. So let us cherish our gift, and spend a few moments giving thanks to the Great Wind, and extend a promise that we will cherish these gifts we have been given. From now on, I suggest we meet here every night to communicate with each other, and to give thanks to the Great Wind."

The villagers were thrilled. And they looked up at the sky and slapped their hands together hoping the Great Wind might hear their noises of appreciation.

One of the benefits of staying still was becoming familiar with their surroundings. Within weeks, the villagers had explored every inch of their new territory and memorized the best hiding spots for the most delicious plants. 

They also learned which plants were poisonous, which part of the river had the purest water, and which had the tastiest fish. 

These people also began noticing new things about the mysterious Great Wind, bringer of all circumstances. 

They noticed for instance that it blew in patterns—the sun blew to the highest part of the sky the same time every day. Likewise, it blew out of the sky the same time every day. 

There was rain and mud in spring, new food in the summer, and in the winter, the earth froze solid. 

In time, the villagers learned how these patterns could show them when to look for food, to gather water, and to protect themselves from predators. 

And as these people grew more accustomed to these patterns, they became better prepared, and being better prepared, for the first time, they developed routines.

The villagers were proud of their routines. It turned surviving into a dance of sorts, that could be fine-tuned and graceful, rather than the stumbling fear-based sprint they were used to. 

And in time, they performed their routines with ease. And with the ease they had, there was extra time to notice even more gifts from the Great Wind.

One afternoon, for instance, a woman was cleaning her cave, a new activity for these people who’d never lived in the same cave day after day, or had even known what a mess was, and as she was picking up piles of soil and branches for the fifth time that day and lugging it out the cave door, she realized she was dragging behind her a long branch with leaves attached which was doing a fine job of dragging the rest of the dirt without her having to bend down (which had begun to take a toll on her back.) And voila, the world’s first broom was invented.

Another person noticed one day, while squatting in the village crap pile, that little green shoots were sprouting from an old dung a few feet away. And when he looked closer, he saw that the little green shoots were growing from little tiny seeds, the same little seeds that speckled his own dung. After that, he pronounced to the village that their bowels had become magical—another, if not odd gift from the Great Wind. 

But from this awakening, the villagers realized whatever seeds they ate would give them more of those plants. And they began to organize their bowels which of course was the beginning of agriculture. 

Then another incident occurred while a child had been drawing pictures with his jagged rock on the wall of his cave. Suddenly, there was a spark and the brush he was sitting upon erupted in flames. Luckily the boy ran out of the cave unharmed, but when all the villagers gathered round to watch this mysterious orange wind flickering from out of the cave, they realized how nice it felt on their skin.

In fact, they sat there for hours, mesmerized, bathing in its warmth, and when the fire died, the villagers wept. 

"I can do it again," the little boy, insisted. 

And when the little boy showed them how he’d made it happen, the villagers were amazed. And from then on, that cave became the village warming hut. 

On another evening, a little girl arrived home from fishing with her father and threw all their fish on the fire which she thought was rather amusing.

But as the child was being scolded by her father, all of the villagers emerged from their caves to find out what smelled so delicious. 

And when the little girl grabbed the charred tail of a fish from the fire to show them, she decided to take a bite of its center. And the villagers could see from her eyeballs that she was on to something. And thus began the dawn of cooking.

Suffice it to say that in just a few years, these people had laid the groundwork for the foundation of civilization. 

And with food in abundance, their bodies were healthier and so women were having more babies. And their village began to grow. 

They had so much food they fed the nearby animals in return for their help carrying some of the bigger loads such as firewood and water. 

And for the first time in their history, they suddenly didn’t have to work so hard at surviving. Instead of surviving 24 hours a day, now it was maybe just 12 hours a day. And with all their free time, they frolicked in the lush green grass. And ate berries till their fingers and mouths were stained.

But there is only so much frolicking a person can do before they go stark raving mad, and that’s exactly what began to happen. 

These people never had so much free time on their hands, and because they had no TV or high speed internet or shopping malls or swimming pools to distract them from being with all this free time, they began to not know what to do with themselves. 

And with this dilemma, they began doing something they’d never done before—they twiddled their thumbs. 

And before long, this twiddling turned to pondering. 

It wasn’t as though they picked what to ponder any more than they picked what was happening around them. Ponders beyond their control would simply blow inside their heads, as if by the Great Wind itself. 

Ponders like the taste of the fish they’d eaten for dinner. Or the interesting shape of their neighbor's bosom or sometimes they imagined they were translating the dialogues of chirping birds. 

But the more time they had to ponder, the pondering got deeper. They noticed they could even hold onto a ponder, if it was particularly interesting and they wanted to understand it more. 

And it wasn’t neurotic treadmill pondering that doesn’t get anywhere, but deep pondering. 

And one day, one of villagers thought out loud to the guy next to him, "Hey man, you know what, why the hell are we even here? I mean, what’s the frigging point?" And the other guy began to panic. "Oh, Great Wind, you know what, I never thought about that before!"

It was the first time anyone had ever pondered about themselves in this sort of capacity. And when this question began to spread throughout the village, many of the villagers began to freak out. "Oh my! What are we doing here?  Who are we?  Where are we?"  

Some villagers were so afraid, they gripped the ground all day because they feared the Great Wind was going to blow them away.

Other villagers screamed periodically. 

Others ran in circles. 

And some shouted to no one in particular, “Don’t you get it? We’re born. Not knowing why?  And then we’re just taken off the planet? After trying years and years just to stay alive?"

Because no one wanted to think these thoughts, they decided it would be best to stay busy. But since they no longer had so much to do, their busyness turned to craziness. 

Groups of villagers sat by the stream fishing 24 hours a day just to avoid being with their thoughts. 

Others gathered berries when they already had enough gathered for months.

Others swept their caves seven and eight times a day even though their caves were already spotless. 

It wasn’t long before the village Elder declared a state of emergency.  "Attention, villagers," the Elder cried. "I call for a meeting.  Everyone—report to the communal cave at once!"

In the communal cave, the Village Elder spoke to vacant and fearful eyes. "My dear villagers, it appears our village has come down with a disease. The Great Wind has given us many gifts, but there have been consequences. 

The gift of free time has allowed us time to ponder and yet through this pondering it now comes to our attention that we are not sure why we are even here. And honestly, I’m not sure this is a very good thing to ponder about."

"It’s the Great Wind," shouted one of the villagers. "We have taken advantage and the Great Wind is upset!”

Then a frazzled looking woman stood up off her mat and began groveling at the Elder’s feet. "Please help us, Village Elder! We have food, shelter, water. All these gifts. And yet we are miserable. Please help us!" 

Then, a red faced and baffled-looking beady-eyed gentleman popped up in the back row. "I don’t understand," he said breathlessly. "When I look at what the Great Wind has given us, it is obvious we should be happy. We should be happy, but inside our flesh sacks, we are not happy. We are miserable!"

Another man then began pacing and muttering to himself at the rear of the cave. “We need to leave this land. We have discovered too much and the Great Wind is punishing us. We need to return to running!”

"Who in their right mind would go back to those old ways, knowing what we now know," his wife yelled, knocking him in the back of his head with her walking stick.

"Ok, Everyone, try to calm down," said the Village Elder. "Tonight, I have a request. Instead of pondering randomly and aimlessly, I want all of you to ask the Great Wind for help. Ask why we have become miserable. And then wait for an answer to appear on the insides of your flesh sacks. And for those villagers who have already gone completely mad, please make sure they are fed properly."

The villagers were frightened stiff by the thought of being still, but did as they were told. They returned to their caves and clasped their hands together to keep from twiddling their thumbs and looked up at the sky and pleaded, "Dear Great Wind, please tell us what is going on down here! Please help us!"

To Be Continued…