Parables Of The Spoon

PROLOGUE:

Propoganda: The use of media to shape the ideas of the viewer/reader/audience/consumer to suit a political agenda.

Parable: A short, succinct didactic story, usually with a simple narrative, used to explain a philosophical concept.

What I shall be presenting are neo-parables exploring the problems plaguing the world today. They will be presented in an elementary, simple to understand, format that will no doubt have its problems and fallacies. However, it is not propaganda. I shall openly declared I am a left-leaning writer, and a believer of liberal ideas (not to be confused with liberalism). I am intensely anti-right-wing, and my prime belief in life is that all people are equal, and none superior to another. I shall be putting up the idea to be explored at the START of every parable such that one understands its intent before one reads it, thus ensuring one is not unduly influenced by anything the parable says. I have also declared my political inclinations. Therefore, it is merely a simplified exploration of themes, not propaganda.

An issue may arise that the reader will say, ‘Oh, but this is too oversimplified to explain such a deep, and complex issue.’ To that, I say, aye. This is merely an attempt to ensure everyone can understand the perspective I am trying to portray. For more detailed arguments, read critical essays and debates. Do not form opinions based only on parables, for they are, as I have already said, oversimplified. It is only for a presentation of the other perspective.

Thank you.

CHAPTER 1: FLADO THIREL AND THE SPOONISTS

A long time ago, in a small village, lived a peaceful people. Harmonious, and tolerant, their virtues were virtues of peace, and their intentions pious. They had no leaders as they were all equals. The elders among them settled disputes, and their word was final. The elders, in order to ensure tolerance and peace, lived by the golden rules. One of the golden rules was that one must never offend anyone else’s religious beliefs. Thus, everyone followed this rule, and lived together and prospered.

Now it so happened that a man, by the name of Flado Thirel, had upon himself a vision. He saw in the vision a divine spoon. The divine spoon seemed to speak to him, and Flado Thirel thought to himself that he finally found a purpose in life.

Upon awakening from his slumber, Flado Thirel jumped up, eager to explain his findings to everyone nearby. He ran from his hut to the centre of the village, a giant banyan tree where sat all the elders.

On his way there, he chanced upon a child. Now the child was a poor child. He was sitting outside his hut with a small plate full of half-cooked porridge on the one hand, and a spoon on the other. Flado looked on in disbelief while the child dipped the spoon repeatedly into the putrid food, and raised it to his mouth.

You undeserving cur, said Flado Thirel, jumping up in wrath, you who do not respect our great Lord, you dare take his favours, and not submit?

But the child did not understand, and looked on, a little afraid.

Flado wagged a finger at him, and asked him if he submitted to the will of the spoon, the Lord, his God, and God of all things over the village?

The child did not respond, but instead, began to cry.

Flado was very disturbed by this petulant howling, and picked up the child by its ear, dragging it to the tree under which sat all the elders.

Injustice, he shouted, and called, loudly, gathering himself a very large crowd on the way, while the child howled and cried, his bowl in one hand, and the spoon fallen on the ground from where he was taken.

Flado reached the elders, and called for a meeting. The elders begged him calm, and he did so. They asked him what was the cause for his rage, and he asked them how they did not know. The golden rule had been broken!

Gasp! The crowd lulled down to a hush; the elders asked Flado to elaborate on this grave charge. The child continued crying.

Flado explained to the crowd, and the elders, speaking in passionate words, how the Lord, his God, the Spoon, had visited him in his dream, and showed him the true religion. Flado spoke about the greatness of the Spoon, and beseeched the crowd to see it too, as he had that morning. He spoke of how he was on his way to begin preaching this one true religion, as discoursed to him by his lord, the Grand Spoon, when he was arrested in his way by this insolent infidel. The child tarnishing his beliefs, and offending his love and devotion to the one true Spoon.

The elders listened patiently, whereupon they asked the child to stop crying, and the man to stop shouting. They asked the crowd to wait patiently while they discussed the issue. After an hour of deliberation, the elders came to a decision. The golden rule had indeed been broken. The child must repent. They asked Flado to forgive the child on behalf of the village for offending his religious beliefs, and asked him how the child must repent.

Flado thought about it, and then asked the council for a few minutes’ time. He wished to seek divine advice.

The crowd pulled back, as Flado rushed through them and back to where the spoon fell. He picked it up, and reverently bowed to it. He washed it in a nearby bucket of water, and, with both hands, took it back through the crowd, in the middle of the shade of the banyan tree.

Dear Lord Spoon, he said, with your permission I will now drop you to the ground. If you wish for me to banish this child for his folly, I ask you to fall to the ground. If you wish for me to forgive this child, please refrain from falling, and hover in mid-air instead.

The crowd watched with bated breath as Flado released the spoon. It fell with a dull thud. And although no one heard it fall, everyone saw so. The judgement had been pronounced.

The Lord has spoken, said Flado.

We will do as you wish, replied the elders.

It is not my wish, but the wish of my Lord, replied Flado.

The elders thus banished the child to the outskirts of the village, never to return to it again. Flado raised his hands in elation, shouting justice had been served. The crowd shouted joyfully. Although some felt queasy about the sentence, at least peace had returned to the village, and no one’s religious sentiments had been hurt.

Flado then asked the elders to decree that spoons be not used by anyone who was not a follower of the one true Lord. All who wished to use the blessings that the Lord Spoon had bestowed upon the village must take an oath to respect, love, and obey the Spoon and its will.

Ten people took oath on the spot, and Flado used the revered spoon, caked in dirt, to mark their foreheads for they had been blest.

Flado spoke of the justice of the village to every soul who stopped to listen, and they smiled and wished him for justice had been served. Flado told them of the Spoon, and while they listened politely, they disagreed with him silently. However, Flado found himself, for every ten non-believers, one believer.

In this manner, Flado rushed around, spreading the teachings of the Spoon to all. Flado asked the new believers to teach and to preach, and followers of the Spoon thus multiplied. Every week, Flado sat under the Banyan tree while the elders slept in their huts, and preached about the uses of the Spoon to his many devotees, and they saw that the Lord was kind to them. The Spoon gave them the means to eat, but not like animals: one mouthful at a time.

When I am gone, said Flado, remember who your master is. It is not me, it is the Lord. The spoon is the Lord, and we are all Spoonists.

And that was how the followers were to be called Spoonists.

Flado kept preaching until his hair grew grey, and his eyes grew heavy. He switched from standing to sitting, and used now a stick to walk around. His followers asked the villagers to refrain from using spoons. Many saw the benefits of using a spoon, and converted. Flado performed the ceremonies as joyously as ever. Most converted to be allowed to use the spoon. Some, whom Flado judged to be true believers, were allowed to perform ceremonies when he became too old and feeble to continue.

Many used the spoon in private, and when found out, were forced to flee the village to the outskirts, in different directions, into the jungles. Flado and his devotees ensured that spoons lay around only with the Spoonists, and the elders ensured no others used it, for it would offend the religious sentiments of the Spoonists.

When he was an appropriate age, Flado was asked to join the elders. One by one, the Spoonists joined the elders, as the older elders died out, until all the elders consisted of Spoonists.

One day, Flado called all Spoonists, and remaining villagers, of which not many remained, and asked them to convene near the banyan tree. He explained that his time had come, and now he would die and finally feast with celestial spoons in the afterlife of the Great Spoon. Spoonists teared up when they heard his time had come, but he asked them not to be sad. He asked them to continue doing their good deeds, and follow in the teachings of the Almighty Spoon. He asked them to forget him, and remember their master, who was not him, but the Spoon. He reminded them that religious sentiments must never be hurt, and all unSpooners must be taught. He reminded them that the Spoon stated that all unSpooners were offending their religious sentiments, and they must not stop until all unSpooners were either banished from the village, or converted.

Having said so, Flado died.

There was a large funeral procession of Spoonists, headed by the Head Spoonists, which carried Flado’s body to the crematory grounds. Spoons were held high in mourning by all, and the other villagers peeked out of their huts to see the procession carry on. The flames ate up Flado’s body, and he became one with the Spoon.

His followers kept spreading his message of inoffensiveness above all, and devotion to the Spoon. One by one, they went from hut to hut in the village, in seldom-treaded territories, and found more and more followers, and banished more and more people.

CHAPTER 2: THE SOCIETY OF THE BOWL

Now, in the same village, on the far Southern side, lived a harmonious society: the society of the bowl. The strange ways of the Northerners had not reached the Southerners yet, even before the Spoonists existed.

The Southerners still used his hands to eat. They did not have religion except the respect for the environment in which they were born, and the food that gave them nourishment. They each possessed a bowl. The farmers farmed, the foragers collected fruit from nearby jungles, and the hunters hunted. In the evening, all would stockpile their day’s work. They would all work together to cook the food, and all the food would be shared equally amongst everyone. The bowl that they possessed was used now to measure out the food. No one got more, and no one got less than they needed. Each person had a different-sized bowl according to how much they needed. Each was in-charge of cleaning their own bowl, other than their daily activities. There were no elders and young ones. They were all one.

Now, the Spoonists, in search of territories where the teachings of the Spoon had not reached, came searching to the Southern side, into the society of the bowl. Armed with spoons, they asked the first people they met to take them to their leaders.

The ones with the bowl were confused, and asked what they meant by leaders.

The Spoonists repeated the question, this time asking about elders. The confusion remained. The Spoonists asked them which God they believed in, and they knew not. The Spoonists asked them if they knew about the Lord Spoon, and then knew not.

Whereupon the Spoonists said, you shall see.

They took away their bowls, and gave them plates instead and asked them to eat with those. But the people, used to slurping the contents of the bowl with their mouth by tilting the bowl to their lips, could not use the plates in the same manner.

The Spoonists then gave them spoons and asked them to use those. They demonstrated to them how blessed they were that they were given instruments of such power, modelled in the image of the great Lord, the one true God.

When the people asked for their bowls back, the Spoonists were enraged. They cursed them and asked them not to use the spoons, for they were not disciples of the Spoon. They levelled charges of offending religious beliefs against them, and asked them to repent. They promised they would have them banished, and went away.

The society of the bowl paid them no heed and continued on their way.

Now, the Spoonists returned with more of their friends, armed with Spoons and plates. The Head Spoonists marched to the society, and asked to meet the elders. There were none.

The Head Spoonists declared to all present there, we shall give you plates, and they shall be good plates, and we shall give you plates, as well as spoons to eat from the plates, and they shall be good spoons, crafted in the image of our Master, and all your Masters. This we shall do, and we shall ask for nothing in return except that you shall pledge allegiance to our Order and to our Lord, and that you shall give one spoonful from your plate to the Northern Spoonists.

The society of the bowl saw that the food was easier to eat with the spoon when they saw all the Spoonists eat, and they thought it looked better. And so they agreed.

The Spoonists gave out plates, and they were good plates. And the Spoonists gave our spoons, and they were good spoons. But the Spoonists did not give out enough plates for all, and they only gave spoons to the ones who converted. It was thus that the society of bowls became unequal: there were now people with spoon and plate, people with only plates, and people with nothing.

The Head Spoonists them made some of the Southerners Head Spoonists of the South, as the Lord guided them to. These Head Spoonists were given more plates and spoons, and willed to spread the teachings of the Spoon to the South. For every plate they gave out, the Head Spoonists of the South took one spoonful of food from the plate. With more and more conversions, the Head Spoonists took more and more spoonfuls, and ate heartily.

The Head Spoonists ate and made merry, and grew fat, and praised the Lord. The ones who previously had bowls, now had plates and spoons. And despite looking better while eating, and being able to eat easily, they found their stomachs rumbled a little more than previously.

CHAPTER 3: SACRIFICES

And the Spoonists took more and more spoonfuls until they were round in the middle, and possessed more chins than before, and when they could not eat their excess food, they made a huge pyre and called up a meeting.

The Head Spoonists realized the Lord had been merciful, and they cried tears of joy and sorrow. Joy, for they knew now that they were blest, and sorrow for they had not shown their love and devotion enough for all the gifts showered on them.

They said thusly to the foolish crowd that knew the Lord not. And they wept, for they saw the blindness of the others.

And they said, we shall make a pyre. And the others asked them why, but they shushed them with their tears. And they said, we shall make a sacrifice. The other knew better than to ask them this time. And they said, we must thank the Lord for the blessings, and we must make our devotion known.

And thus, it was decided that two spoons from each plate go into the pyre, that the Lord shall see the sacrifice of the mortal Spoonists, and be satisfied that the Spoon was well-respected.

And the Head Spoonists put their excess food into the pyre, and bade the others to do so.

And the Head Spoonists slept peacefully, knowing the Lord was good.

And the others slept hungry.

CHAPTER 4: THE CHILD WHO CHOSE

Now the Spoonists were more in number than the ones with the bowls. At first they tolerated them, but the ones with the bowls were too few to collect food for themselves anymore. Some of them began to beg, or steal. The Spoonists found them out, and chased them out of the village and into the woods.

In the south of the village, in the school there, studied an orphan, whose father he knew not. His mother, though, had died giving birth to him. He wandered the streets in the evenings, looking for people, finding none, and making friends with animals instead. He carried with him a bowl to eat whatever little he found, and drink water from the well.

When the Spoonists chased the ones with the bowls away, at first, they didn’t notice the boy. One day, a Spoonist noticed him drinking water with the bowl. He asked of him who he was, and the boy said he was an orphan. He asked him a name, and the boy had none. He reprimanded the boy for drinking water with unholy utensils, and brought him before the Head Spoonists.

The Head Spoonists bade him throw the bowl away, but the boy did not listen. He told them the bowl was his only earthly possession, apart from a few tattered rags. He would not be willing to part with it easily.

The Spoonists then told him of the One True God, whose truth there is in everyone. He who blesses the village, and by his blessings, the followers of the Spoon prosper. The handiness of the utensil fashioned in the name of the God is indeed great, they say.

Then they say, the unfollowers must be vanquished, for they be beneath the Spoonists. They must all respect the one true Overlord, or verily terrible things will follow, and they said this with great dread, and with their eyes wide open, and voice in hushed tones, and the crowd did sway so with them.

They then made a Head Spoonist stand on one side of the boy, and a vanquished bowl-man kneel on the other. While the Spoonist stood with head held high, wearing a black robe, and gown, hair clipped smartly, and face curt, the other cowered and shivered ever so slightly.

See this, this insolent fool, quoth the Spoonists, he suffers for he is not a believer!

The boy looked from one to the other, and from the other back to the one, and he thought to himself that the Spoonist looked better.

Now choose, the Spoonists said, one or the other. Believer, or infidel!

The boy thought about his bowl, and he looked at the man. The boy asked the Spoonists what the difference between the two was. He saw the one looked the same as the other, except one a little scarier, the other a little scared. The only difference, he saw, was that one was kneeling, and the other stood.

The man is unclean, said the chorus of Spoonists. He is not a believer. He cannot have food in the way of the men, for he eats like an animal. That is the difference. We know who we must respect.

The boy still clung to his bowl.

The kneeling man looked at the boy, and wept. He said to him, O son of man, whose father he knows not, I bid thee listen. Renounce the bowl, take the spoon. Not everyone is given the choice.

The boy asked what would happen if he did not give the bowl away. The Spoonists harkened, and shouted, you shall invite the fury of the Lord, and of all his followers.

The boy saw the difference now. One was happy and the other was unhappy. It slipped his young mind that the cause for one’s unhappiness was the other; the cause for both one’s sorrow, and the other’s pride was the same. The boy only saw the happiness and the sadness.

He threw down the bowl, and embraced the Spoon.

All the Spoonists rejoiced. They all praised the Lord for showing the boy the way. They made him take oath, and paraded him through the streets, jeering at other unSpooners.

The man with the bowl wept. But, whereas earlier these were tears of pain, now they were joy.

CHAPTER 5: OF DEFINITIONS

In the east of the village, the boy who was banished by Flado, escaped. Here he found a thriving community of tribals, who each year increased in population. This was so as the newly banished unspooners also joined them, learning the ways of the jungle, and integrating themselves in the population.

The boy was told he must learn a trade in order to benefit the community he lived off of. Thus, he grew up repairing primitive stools, chairs, and tables. He became the carpenter of the tribals, and he was well. The tribals respected him, and he them. They gave him food, which they all ate on banana leaves, uncooked, and just enough to keep their energies up.

The boy grew up a handsome man, with an unkempt beard, and determined eyes. He fell in love with one of the girls from the tribals: a headstrong girl, who was one of the most successful hunters of the tribe. Marriage, however, was not a tradition followed by the tribals. They considered themselves loyal only to the nature, and not to each other. Therefore, the man did not possess the woman. Instead, they had two children: a boy and a girl.

It so happened that one day, on a hunt, the woman was grievously injured. The man found her crawling back to the tribe, carried her back to his hut, and asked for the medicine-person. The medicine-person examined the woman, but all he could do was ease her pain as she passed into the other world.

The carpenter grieved quietly, in a corner in the village for two days. No chairs or tables were repaired, and two ladders were decommissioned. At last, he realized the tribal idea of nature, and quit grieving.

He returned to his work, and two leaves of uncooked meals a day. In the evenings, he would gather, along with the rest of the tribals, to the beating of drums, and look on as the tribal children danced around a small fire.

He reared his son and daughter alone, following the tribal tradition of dressing them both alike. He taught them the tricks of the trade, and raised them equally, ensuring each was as capable as the other. The boy had a natural inkling towards medicine, and spent much of his time with the medicine-person, caring for the sick. The girl spent more time with her father, with her natural inclination towards hammers and wood.

One day, the boy and girl, chasing squirrels, and looking for fruit, wandered into the village. The tribals had never taught them to be scared of anything or anyone, and thus, they neither knew, nor feared the village and the Spoonists.

They walked through the streets and towards the centre of the village, and right into the assembly of the Spoonists, who were invoking the name of the one true deity, the Lord of them all.

The Spoonists did not notice them at first, but when one noticed, they all did, for he picked up a cry so shrill nothing could continue until he was satiated.

Wherefore did he cry?

It was because the two, brother and sister, were dressed identically, with identical haircuts. From the near, unless one knew one from the other, it was very difficult to tell them apart, from the far, nigh impossible.

This thought struck the Spoonists a little later, when they heard the two speak. They had assumed the two were both boys, yet one spoke a little softer than the other. They then assumed this soft speaker was a girl, and asked him if he was, and he said he was not. The other one, however, said she was.

The Spoonists widened their eyes and raised their eyebrows till wrinkled appeared on their foreheads. They then staggered back as if struck by some invisible force, and put their hands on their hearts. Then they started humming.

Throughout all this, the two children looked on, mildly amused but thoroughly confused.

Then the Spoonists all moved apart to form a path for the Head Spoonists, who walked up to them slowly, in all their reverence.

Children, said the Spoonists, who be thou?

The children said nothing, but looked around and tried to wander off. The Spoonists held them in place.

Children, who be thou? The Head Spoonists asked them again who they were, and they knew not. They asked them which God they believed in, and they knew not. They then asked them what brought them there, and they knew not. Then, they asked them where they came from. This they knew.

They told them of the society outside, in the jungle. They told them that was where they came from.

The Spoonists stroked their chins and beards, and wondered aloud, does that society not have a males and a females?

Evidently not, for the children were confused when asked to differentiate between the male and the female.

Does the male not lead the house? And the female stay behind to clean and look after the Spoon?

Nay, said they. Both man and woman go and hunt, both man and woman stay back. Whoever does whatever better.

Blasphemy in the name of the Spoon!

The Spoonists recoiled with horror, do you not know the Lord has dictated that one of the two must stay back and look after the tool created in His image, and the other must work so that the blessings of the Lord can be granted on the two of them, and together they form a couple.

Our God has no gender. Our gods are male, female, and others.

There are no others! There is male and female, and nothing else! And there is only one God! It is the Spoon!

This was quite a revelation for the children, for they saw the Spoon for the first time that day. And the Head Spoonists showed them how the spoon worked wonders, easing the way one ate, and they saw that it was good. And the Head Spoonists praised the Spoon, and asked the children to do so too.

The children, excited by the shiny new object, quickly agreed to take the oath and become Spoonists.

But the Spoonists then told the boy and girl they must separate themselves for their heavenly duty. The two ask how so. Then the Spoonists pointed at all the men, and they saw that these had short hair and moustaches, and then the Spoonists pointed at the women, and they saw that they were clothed more heavily, and had long hair.

But, the girl said, what of the summer, when it is warm.

One must always be clothed to please the Lord.

What about the men then?

The men do not service the Divine Image of the Lord on the Earth, that is, the earthly Spoon, and therefore do not require to be clothed. This is the word of the Lord.

The girl was confused, but admitted it was but a minor discomfort for the blessings of holding the Spoon.

Then the induction ceremony began. The children were both given a spoon each, and broth. The boy was given the broth in a big bowl, filled to the brim, so that he ciykd eat and become strong. The girl was given a small bowl, filled halfway, so she could learn to be delicate, and cleanse the Spoon with soft hands.

The girl asked why this is so, and the boy was confused also, saying he eats much less than the girl, and should therefore be given the other bowl.

The Head Spoonists said this is so, this has always been so and cannot be changed.

Cannot the girl lead the family? And I stay back? I used to tend to the injured back home, I can tend to the Spoon better than her, and she can look for food better than me.

This is the word, the Head Spoonists said, anything else is blasphemy. It has always been so. It shall always be so.

The two children had no more questions.

First, the boy was shown the way to hold the Spoon, using the whole of his fist to firmly grip it and put the whole of the tip into his mouth to eat.

The girl, being hungry, and eager to learn, copied the way he held it, but the Spoonists reprimanded her.

She cannot hold the spoon in the same way he does. She must do so only with her thumb and forefinger, and at an angle to her body. Her wrist must bend down, gently, gracefully, and she must only fill it only halfway through each time she dips it in the broth. She must not put the whole of the tip into her mouth, but put her lips to the edge of the spoon, and slowly slurp the contents.

The girl complained, saying this was cumbersome, and it would take longer to eat, but the boy looked at her and told her this must be the Word, and this must be so. The Head Spoonists smiled, for he learnt quick, and he learnt well.

And so, the boy and the girl began eating their broth.

The girl, despite all the limitations, finished the broth before the boy. She asked for more, but was denied. The boy could not finish, and left half the bowl unfinished. The Head Spoonists then instructed the girl to finish off his soup. Though annoyed, she was still hungry, and finished the soup off without having to be told twice.

The Head Spoonists then told her to carry his Spoon, and hers also, and wash it in the lake.

She asked why she should do so? The boy also offered to do it himself, since it was only fair that he had  eaten using it.

It is the Lord’s will that the female wash the spoons, with her delicate hands, the Head Spoonists said gravely, and slowly, departing heavenly wisdom on the children. Besides, they said, didn’t the girl also eat from the boy’s broth?

But it was only because I had less broth than him, the girl argued.

Her words were unheard, and she was told to wash and clean the spoon, and report to a house assigned to her after.

Annoyed, and bewildered, the girl decided that the sooner she obeyed the Head Spoonists, the sooner she’ll be rid of this trouble, and could go back to her hunting. Thus, she obeyed.

CHAPTER 6: INVISIBLE PRIVILEGE

Many days pass like this, with the girl being taught more and more restrictions, and the boy being given more and more freedom.

The boy, at first, is ridiculed for being soft. He is beaten up and laughed at for crying, and tending to hurt animals on the hunt. Soon, though, he learns. He betters himself, and quits crying, becoming tough instead. He no longer cries, and sneers down at the girls and the women. He leads the hunt, and kills many animals on his own.

Word spreads about the boy’s success. One of the Head Spoonists gives him the idea that he should join the Head Spoonists, in order to exert more power over others. He follows this advice, and soon becomes a Head Spoonist.

The girl is taught to hide her spoon, to use it in a different way, to not show it to anyone, to use it only in private. She is forbidden from talking freely with anyone else, and can only talk with other girls, or women.

From these women, she finds out that all the girls must carry the spoons of the boys, and the women, of the men.

She is told that the boys and men are allowed to brandish their spoon wherever and whenever they wish to, but the women must hide theirs. It is how it has always been. The women must care for the spoons of the men, and for their own, but the men may only care about their spoons when they wish to eat.

Hearing so, the girl is incensed. She asks the women why they do not do anything about it, but they say that caring for two spoons make them tired.

The girl reflects on this. Every day, she finds her spoon getting heavier and heavier. The price of caring for two spoons has started keeping her bent down, and confused.

Now she realizes how the boy has become what he has become, and the girl has become subdued. The boy does not have even a single spoon’s weight on his hips, but she has two. He can easily become Head Spoonist, but she cannot.

The girl tries to think about how many female Head Spoonists she has seen, and realizes that there are none.

Her eyes open. She immediately decides to talk to her brother about this.

Brother, she says, when she reaches his large hut.

Do not disturb me now, he says, I am busy.

I have something important to say to you, she says, and doesn’t wait for a response, you get to travel everywhere, work and do any work you wish to do. You become Head Spoonist but I cannot. I shoulder your burden of the spoon, and because of this burden, I am unable to do that which I wish to do. There are girls and women everywhere carrying your spoons, and hiding their own, because of which boys and men are all Head Spoonists, and the women are behind.

The boy says, do not put the blame on me. How can you blame men for women not being Head Spoonists? They never campaign or apply to be Head Spoonists. If there are no women applying, there can be none selected. It is not our fault, it is your own.

But do you see, the girl says, that it is your spoon that is slowing us down, such that we cannot apply?

I bear my own burden, says the boy, who has never borne his own burden. I eat with my spoon, you eat with yours. What I do not eat, you eat. I worked hard on the hunt while you stayed at home, this is why I am the Head Spoonist. You were lazy when I worked hard, and now you want to the same privilege as I have. I have worked for my privilege, and you have not. You sound just like the workers, the Low-Spoonists, and the Spoonless. You and I had the same opportunity, the same upbringing. You had the same Spoon as I, so why complain now? Why defer blame? Why must I give you some reservation or concession?

The girl tries to make the boy see that she carried two spoons, though he thought they both had one each. He keeps telling her that she is lazy, and sounds just like the workers, who don’t want to work but want benefits anyway.

CHAPTER 7: THE PRICE OF DISSENT

On her way back, the girl encounters a worker. He is one of the Spoonless, the descendents of the original unSpooners who had, unluckily, never had a Spoon. She sees how hard he works, and how thin he is.

Like me, she thinks, this person is also shouldering the burden of someone else.

She then encounters a Low-Spoonist. These were the ones who had been conquered by the Spoonists, and had to give one spoonful from their food to the Spoonists.

Surprised, she realizes that this one too shoulders the burden of someone else.

Anyone who works for anyone else’s benefit, she realizes, is oppressed. The women, the Spoonless, the Low-Spoonists. All of us are the same. All of us are being stolen from. Our work is being taken from us by others.

She realizes the injustice of the system of the Spoonists, and decides to preach and organise a revolt.

Accordingly, she calls all the women, the Low-Spoonists, and the Spoonless to try to teach them this idea of inequality. She spoke to them about the burden they all bore. She connected for them the dots they did not have the time nor the inclination to connect.

She tells them how they bore burdens for others, and how through these excess burdens, the ones on top relaxed, benefitted, and led better lives. She tells them how one spoonful from each of the Low-Spoonists led to a lot of spoons of excess food. She asks the Spoonless how it was fair that some had spoons and some didn’t, even though they all seemingly did the same work.

It was through accident of birth, she says. The Spoonless could have as easily been born as Spoonists. No one had been granted a spoon solely through their hard work, as you have been led to believe.

Some male Spoonists passing by overhear all of this, and laugh at her. They call her names, and tell her to go work on cleaning the Divine Image’s Earthly representatives, and not worry her head with nonsense.

Hearing, this, she brings out her Spoon in public, and everyone gasps, but she flinches not.

This Spoon here, once a Divine entity, now has become a symbol of our oppression, she says. I take it, she says, and fling it down to the ground.

The male Spoonists cry blasphemy and try to catch her; but the months of gentlework have not made her forget her sprightly hunting days. She escapes their grasp, and, instead, kicks them both in their shin. They fall to the ground, and cry.

Look, she says to the people, look how easy it is to beat them back.

The Spoonists gather themselves and run away.

Look at the power you have. You outnumber them, you work for them. If you were to rebel, they could not sustain themselves. You do not need them, they need you.

The Spoonists, meanwhile, rush straight to the Head Spoonists and tell them the whole incident: that there is a girl blaspheming in the village, that she has gathered other women and lowly ones, and that she has flung her Spoon into the ground.

The Head Spoonists dash out in anger and horror, looking for ruffian girl who dares defy the oath she took. They soon find her. She preaches to the lowly ones and the women, she tells them they must rise up against injustice, that their pleas will fall into deaf ears, and will not be heard.

We cannot banish her, the Head Spoonists decide, then what must we do?

In their anguish, they turn to the boy who recognises his sister as the preaching blasphemer. The brother looks to them, with iron resolve in his eyes, thinking.

We must, he says at length, make an example of her.

Do what to her?

Construct a huge wooden spoon, and nail her to it. Then burn her.

A blasphemer must be made an example of, so that no other person ever blasphemes.

The Head Spoonists rush to the girl to stop her. She is quick, and she is strong, but they are too many. She turns to the gathered crowd.

Take up arms, she says, take up arms now and fight! Now is the time! Surely you see how easy it is to rebel, to take control.

Nay, says the Head Spoonists, the Lord above watches over us all. You cannot rebel, for he shall smite thee. Surely, you would not want to be deprived of the Lord’s blessings?

Rebel, says the girl.

Yet the crowd simply watches, helpless, shackled to their spots by some invisible chain. They do nothing when man upon man jumps onto the girl, one hand on her mouth, four on each of her hands, four on each of her legs, as she is completely restrained, tied up and chained.

All the greatest carpenters are called by the Spoonists, to carve out a wooden Spoon. The boy himself oversees the construction of the Spoon himself. The girl is kept chained to the tree, spat on by all passing Spoonists. At first she is allowed to speak, but she preaches continuously of freedom and equality, until a small crowd gathers around her. Then, her mouth is tied. And yet, she keeps making noises through the restraints, trying to get people to see the truth in her words.

The Spoon is finally carved, and the date arrives where she must repent for her sins.

The Head Spoonists ask her for her last wish, and she says she wishes to cut her hair down short. They deny so, saying the Lord does not allow it.

But they are my hair!

But it is the Lord’s will.

She relents, one last time, and changes her wish. She wishes to be allowed to speak as she wishes from the moment she is burnt until she dies. The Head Spoonists discuss among themselves for a while. Then, they agree.

A great throng of people come to watch as they tie her to the spoon: Spoonists, Low-Spoonists, Spoonless, women, children, men, boys, girls. The worst punishment before this had been banishment from the village. Yet, none before her had blasphemed so readily, so obviously, and so proudly. The village is eager to witness this great punishment for an even greater sin.

The brother himself brings the flame to her. He nods to her, and says, quietly, if only you’d listened to me, you’d still be alive.

If only you’d listened to me, she says, we all could’ve been alive together.

In the name of the Lord, shouted the brother to all who stood there, I, the executioner, will not light this blasphemer on fire.

He does so, and as the flames start to gain, some of the male Spoonists begin to cheer.

Everyone else keeps deathly quiet.

Let her be an example, shouts the brother.

Yes, she shouts, louder than him, let me be an example: an example of injustice, and an example of will. You could’ve saved me, but you didn’t. But I saved me. Remember. Rebel.

And the last two words she keeps repeating as the flames rise higher than higher. When she has shouted her voice hoarse, the two words turn into a whisper. Then, as the fire reaches her toes, the pain forces the whisper to begin to become a shout again, and yet the words remain.

The flames lick at her, now reaching her feet, and now her knees. She screams, as her flesh chars black slowly. She turns from human to ash, bit by bit, yet her voice shall be the last to go, and her words shall remain: Remember. Rebel.

Remember. Rebel.

The women, learning lessons from this girl, and her preachings, teach their children to treat all as equal. And though at that present moment things looked bleak, and inequality in the name of the Spoon ran rampant, the women thought that through educating their children they could rear a generation of better-minded individuals.

At the moment, however, the girl burns. The girl burns physically, and with her, inside, burn all the women watching, and all the Low-Spoonists crying, and all the Spoonless, watching blankly, staring, with no emotion, none whatsoever, in their eyes. They do not cry, they do not sob. They simply watch her burn.

Remember. Rebel.

Her shout turns into screaming, getting higher and higher in pitch as the fire rises up and up. It becomes increasing louder, and difficult to bear, but she puts all her pain into each syllable. Re. Mem. Ber. Re. Bel.

Remember. Rebel.

Remember! Rebel!

Remember. Rebel.

As the flames lick away the last of her flesh, the crowd disperses. They think themselves the better for still being alive while the girl is dead and gone. But the girl lived for justice, and died for it, and their resolve died with her. She died alive, and they would live dead, forever and ever more.

EPILOGUE:

It is easy to see how, in the guise of religion, injustice can be meted out. It is easy to see how difficult it is to be able to see this injustice when, like the boy, it does not happen to you. It is easy to see how inaction is just as bad as active oppression.

To all the underprivileged, strive towards an equal society.

To all the privileged, strive towards an equal society.

To all the holders of invisible privilege, empathize with the problems of others, which may not be your problems, and make the problems of others, your own problems.

For a just society is an equal society. And for this society, we must change.

One must not end like the Spoonists.

One must not hail the Spoon.