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Title: “MAN” and his Judge
Author: Federico Arcos
Date: 1960
Language: en
Topics: imperialism 
Source: sent by friend of author

Federico Arcos

“MAN” and his Judge

HE loved to feel great, triumphant and to convince himself of his

majestic omnipotence. HE had a mirador built on the highest mountain

with a pedestal on the center of which, as a symbol of his (triumph,

stood a column which was crowned by a huge spherical glass dome.

Conceited, proud, breathing deeply, satisfaction swelling HIS chest,

MAN, contemplated the vast horizon all around him.

Then, thinking, said to himself: “How small is all this when compared to

my greatness! Here, from my throne I realize who I am. If this height is

not enough, I will climb higher into the air, strolling, placid and

sovereign, over my kingdom.

“In the beginning I was inferior to other beings. I was at the mercy of

animals much stronger than me. Continuous danger threatened my

existence. How I had to fight to find a cave to be safe! However, from

the moment I brandished a tree branch or hurled a stone to defend

Myself, I began to understand the power of Nature and slowly began to

grasp its secrets. I discovered fire and its flame became for me a blaze

of power. That’s how I began the extension of my domain.

“Today I have conquered oceans and continents, built expressways, I

bored through mountains, crossed canals, linked oceans, crossed clouds;

embraced the sky, explored space... My voice is heard simultaneously in

all corners of the globe. My message has reached other planets. Whenever

I so wish, I will go to the Moon, Venus, Mars. I have planned everything

and interplanetary trips will soon be considered simple routine. “I am

mastering the great secrets of science. I have penetrated the

microscopic world. Thus, I vanquish with ease illnesses that the world

did not know and that were destroying it.

“I have divided what was considered indivisible. From the compact to the

ethereal, from micro to macrocosms, from the small to the tremendously

large, from the indivisible to the immeasurable. My brain embraces it

all. The power of the planet is at my command. I plunge into the depths

of oceans and rise to the immensity of the atmosphere. I am the master

of the oceans, of the earth and of the skies. I have succeeded in

stopping time by shrinking distances.” Suddenly, a thundering laughter

at his back made him lose the thread of his arrogant thoughts. HE turned

around and saw an Old man with a long beard wearing a frayed tunic and

holding a sandglass. In the Old man shining eyes HE could distinguish a

look of pity and mockery. His laughter had become a tenuous ha, ha!

While he was moving his head.

“Who are you who so insolently dares to mock me”, asked MAN. The Old man

replied, “I am Time” and, despite your words, invincible. I am also your

judge. I’ve come to remind you of your actions. To tell you what I see

and which you refuse to acknowledge.

“You have forgotten names which should make you cringe with shame: Troy,

Rome and its circuses, Carthage and Numance belong to that infinite list

which reaches its summit with Nagasaki... Crematoriums. Temples full of

riches... Filthy rich individuals... sordid dwellings... starving

children.

“That explosion rising towards the clouds, do you see it? With it comes

desolate extermination; it is the work of your ‘genius’.

“Over there, in that mine, a multitude of human beings are extracting

from the bowels of the earth a mineral which serves to inflame your

pride. What happens next? There is a rock slide in a mine shaft. A large

crowd buried alive is trying to breathe. Sad agony, sad death. Sobbing

desperately, whole families irrigate the ground with tears of sorrow.

Meanwhile in luxurious palaces, enjoying boundless riches, insensitive

to suffering and indifferent to the misery they have brought about,

other human beings delight in refined pleasures. Those wars, endless and

ever present, those endless massacres, that insecurity and fear in which

people on your planet live, all of these, to mention just a few, are all

your work.

An invisible line across the world separates human beings and hinders

mutual understanding.

“Conquer. Conquer yourself, ambitious one, you who considers himself the

supreme being on earth, but control your wicked insatiable thirst and

minimize your pride, for the danger and complications is within

yourself. You have managed to solve cosmic problems but you don’t know

your own being. You’ve not yet learned to live nor to respect yourself

and if you don’t learn it, soon you will perish.

“Let the echo of my loud laughter resonate intermittently in every ear

and do control your steps, otherwise

“Hah! Hah! Hah!”

Then the Old man, accompanied by the echo of his laughter disappeared in

the distance. Still, every so often, the echo of that “Hah! Hah! Hah!”

reaches MAN’s ears.