(Επανάληψη από το παλιό blog.)
*
Αυτό είναι ένα απόσπασμα από το Jehad, του Nicholas Yermakov. Κανονικά, έπρεπε να το μεταφράσω στα ελληνικά, αλλά ο θεός της τεμπελιάς με νίκησε, το αρχίδι. Οπότε θα πρέπει να το διαβάσετε στην Κοινή Γλώσσα αυτού του κόσμου.
“[…] I can’t understand why you haven’t evolved into technologically advanced civilization.”
“For what purpose?” said K’itar.
“For what purpose? Why, for the purpose of growth, for the betterment of your race, so you could achieve–”
“Achieve?” K’itar said. “Where would be the necessity of the sort of achievement of which you speak? In the end, if there is an end to such things, what would we gain that we don’t already have?”
She started to reply, then realized that no reply was possible and smiled. “I see what you mean,” she said. “I envy you.”
“I’m sorry,” said K’itar.
“Sorry? For what?”
“Sorry for you,” said K’itar. “As long as you are capable of envy, you will never have that which every living being seeks.”
“Oh? And what is that?”
“Peace, Miss Randall. Is that not the final goal of every human endeavor?”
She smiled wryly. “Some of us like to think it is.”
“Yes, I am aware that humans have a tendency to choose paths for themselves that they believe will lead them to their final goal, be they paths of achievement, paths of discovery, or paths of acquisition. It is sad that they struggle so hard to attain that which they could have by simply choosing to embrace it. They believe that there are many paths to peace and they seek to follow as many of them as they can. I understand they rarely find what they are seeking and that most of them spend their lives desperately searching.”
“You’re suggesting that there’s only one path to peace?” she said.
“No,” K’itar said gently. “There are only paths away from it.”
*
Το εξώφυλλο:
Σκέτος ο πίνακας: