Free Earth: The Future is History by Gabriel Dica

Thursday, April 15, 2320. 1:30 PM, Local
Time
    The bright, yellow
sunlight entering the room through the large windows does little
more than emphasize all the dust floating in the air. The old,
scratched metal and wood furniture is almost a luxury for many. But
despite the desperate period humanity is trying to overcome,
children still go to schools, students still graduate universities;
hope is not yet lost for them, they might still have a future. The
full room is buzzing with all the students talking, finding their
seats. The protest taking place just outside their windows is
causing a lot of noise; the building, a reminiscence from the old
era, repurposed years ago for the Civil Council’s University in
Jakarta, is right next to the small park in front of the newer
Council Hall. No one seems to notice or care about the uproar
happening close by.
    The room starts to quiet down as professor
Jawaad Noya, the most important name in human, social and political
sciences in the world – and one of the greatest minds of this era –
enters the room. The tiny woman, well in her fifties, wearing her
usual two-piece white suit and large purple hat, is in extreme
contrast with the faded, gray, dusty room she finds herself in. She
was appointed by the Civil Council to hold a special lecture for
today’s celebration – a welcome chance for her to inspire the young
minds attending.
    After a brief moment of analyzing the class,
she makes her way to the podium.
    Noya: “Good afternoon class. Please be
seated.”
    All the senior students are present, quietly
watching the professor as she sets her tablet on the stand.
    Noya, with her head down, scrolling through
her notes, addresses her audience: “Who can tell me why we’re all
here today?”
    One of the young minds, seated near the
center of the classroom, stands up and answers her obvious
question, ironically: “Today is the day that marks two-hundred
years since we sent the terraforming probe to Asha. Or, more
accurately, today marks two-hundred years of incompetence,
professor, and we’re all here to celebrate it!”
    The room seems slightly amused, softly
whispering to each other. Unimpressed, Noya barely shows a slight
nod, before addressing the student: “I see. It’s great that you can
see the “incompetence”, as you call it. I assume you don’t agree
with it?”
    The young student: “Of course not! The
situation we are in… It’s unacceptable! “
    Noya, still looking down at her tablet: “I
agree, it’s unacceptable.”
    After a short pause, she lifts her head and
looks at the young student: “So, what exactly are you doing to
change it? Aren’t you just as “incompetent” as everyone else?
Hiding under apparently pertinent excuses… “I’m just a student,
what can I do?”, or “That’s not my job, our leaders should solve
problems, not me!”. Is any single one of you doing anything,
anything whatsoever, to change the unacceptable state we are in
today?”
    Puzzled, the student quietly sits down.
    Certain that she’s captured the entire room’s
attention, Noya starts slowly walking around the podium, making
soft hand gestures, delivering her speech: “The word you’re looking
for is not “incompetence”, but “ignorance”, I think. Of course,
this isn’t new. It’s not something happening only in the past
twenty years… Or even the past two-hundred years. No. Throughout
our entire history we can clearly see it: egos more powerful than
common interest, assigning blame instead of finding solutions...
History, my young and eager minds! History is an indistinguishable
entanglement of truths and lies, written and told and learned by
all of us and all those before us… And everyone that is yet to be
born, as we, right now, at this very moment, are writing the
history future generations will read. Remember this: the past is a
tool, offering us a way to look back and forever wonder how we
could have done things differently; a way for us to