Sunday, June 20, 2004

A society of gamesters, like ours, except that instead of letting everything in their lives be decided by competition, it's decided by chance: a roll of the dice. Would that society be any more unjust than ours?

" 'I can't see that,' nodding back towards the hidden well, 'ever waking now. The whole order of the world would have to change, all of humanity, and I can't see that happening, e pou [affectionate term of respect for an old person], not ever.'
   'Eternity is a long time,' says the kaumatua [elder comfortably. 'Everything changes, even that which supposes itself to be unalterable. All we can do is look after the precious matters which are our heritage, and wait, and hope.' " --Keri Hulme, The Bone People

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