SwedenSara Week 52: The World is Revolving

SwedenSara
Friday


Picture 1

Picture 2


SwedenSara’s Choice: both


Title: The World Is Revolving
The world is revolving. Each year, it turns the same way, slightly tilted on its axis, leaning towards the sun and away from it in cycles that have been the same since the dawning of time. Nothing changes, yet everything is different.

A marble statue is sitting on her hard, cold stone seat, overlooking the vast ocean. Grey skies hover above her, casting a dull, gloomy light over her surroundings. People pass by below, as they have done for centuries. Their clothes and appearances change, decade by decade, but the mind-numbing chatter is always the same. Every year, month and day, no matter if they’re commoners, intellectuals, trash or aristocrats, the subjects are never-changing. Sex. Money. Deception. Love.

Mankind has developed surprisingly little since the rise of the ancient marble statue.

Scattered among the wandering visitors are tour groups. Like herds of cattle they are pushed around, tended to by jaded guides who mechanically repeat their routine. Every once in a while the dullness of their reiteration is broken by an intelligent question from a well informed listener, but the answers are evasive and rarely offer the insight requested.

If the statue could talk, she would tell them about the buzzing city life, the wonderful mosaics and the vibrant colours. She longs to describe the gleaming metal in the soldiers’ helmets, the rustling sound of the linen tunics, the glimmering brooches and the elaborate hairdos. She yearns to educate them about the Gods, the myths and the philosophers. But she can do nothing, except listen year after year to other people telling stories they have no real knowledge of or respect for.

The grey skies let a slow drizzle fall on the ancient marble statue. The acid that has become an ever-present part of the rain these the last decades slowly eats its way through her seemingly hard body. She was supposed to be an indestructible reminder to the later generations of her period’s excellence. Instead, this generation’s way of life is causing her to wither. It is polluting the air and draining the earth. This generation has forgotten about the responsibilities that comes with supremacy.

And yet, the world keeps revolving; nothing changes, but everything is different.