@hythlodaeus | text

[nomoresharks]

I've an odd question to ask, if you'll indulge me.

Let us say a world exists where all work toward the betterment of their world, where none go without, and no one need be separated from their loved ones before they could bid farewell. Each day is peaceful and productive, and you know your place within it. You need not leave until you are ready, and only when you feel fulfilled.

Would you choose to live in this world or the one you came from? Why?

And to those who know why I ask this question, I pray you answer as well, and do so honestly. I promise 'tis in the spirit of keeping an open mind.

Comments

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[aceslow]

If I wanted a better life somewhere else, I would have tried to immigrate already. God knows there are easier places to live.

It doesn't sound as though this is just a hypothetical to you.

[nomoresharks]

Nay. And here I am stuck with the fact that I'm painfully obvious.

Though for what it's worth, I can safely say this world is slowly on its way to being crossed off my list of preferred alternatives.

Not that I mind the people, of course. Truth be told, I quite like the conversations I get to have.

[aceslow]

I doubt any of us would want to be here as opposed to our own worlds, no matter how unappealing our own worlds are. There's something to be said for some level of self-determination.

What's the catch with this world you're from, then? I assume there is one. It sounds a bit like a science-fiction story I've read before, but I doubt yours is nearly so grim.

[nomoresharks]

Does there have to be a catch? Is that really the only way anyone can imagine something like our world existing?

[But if he wants an answer...]

Well... We do tend to wear similar clothing, which some people have been put off by, I suppose? Although technically there's no punishment for *not* doing so.

[aceslow]

It is. I've never known of a country that's able to flourish at the expense of no one, even if the people suffering those ramifications are an ocean away.

A dress code isn't exactly my idea of suffering. [ Well. ] Not great suffering. Is that really all there is to it? If you were born there, why would you ever want to leave?

[nomoresharks]

Ah, there is that as well. While "suffering" is a bit strong, I will admit that our governing body can be slow to act at times. Not out of any sense of cruelty, mind. More out of an attempt to take all things into consideration--others' autonomy, whether or not we'd be intruding too much on natural phenomena... That sort of thing.

As for why I'd want to leave... Well, for my part, I had no choice in the matter. But others are much more adventurous than I am, eager to dash off and explore all the star has to offer.

[aceslow]

Regular bureaucracy, in other words. I struggle to think of any governing structure beyond an autocracy that doesn't take its sweet time in processing things that need to be done. I'm familiar.

I suppose I can understand why others would want to explore beyond. But putting down roots in another place is another question entirely. Is your time here your first time away, or were you unwillingly dragged somewhere else?

[nomoresharks]

Hm... Depends on how you look at it. You could say I've been dragged some ways away from home before, but there was always an option to turn down that particular method. I neither could nor would ('twas always a friend asking for help, you see) but the option was there.

Also it was always on the same world before while this definitely isn't.

[aceslow]

Not quite dragged away, then. Travel and immigration are very different matters than what we've found ourselves in here.

You have one up on me there, even within the same world. I'd never stepped foot outside my home isola before coming here. I doubt that I ever would. Utopia or not, I doubt that most do.