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A long, long time ago, the people saw that some stars move across the sky very slowly, changing their positions slightly from one night to the next. They saw that the wandering stars all moved in the same direction but that one of the wanderers, the reddish one, sometimes moved the other way for a short time. The people thought that this reddish wanderer was very special. They decided to find a very tall mountain so that they could climb up and look closely at this most special star. Some of the people went North to find a tall mountain. Others went East. A few went South and a bunch went West. They searched the entire world. They found many tall mountains but they never got high enough to get a really good look at the most special star.
After many generations passed, the people learned to make glass shapes that could be combined to give them a better view of the most special star. They looked through their spyglasses and they saw that the special star was a place that they might be able to visit, and then they resolved to try.
The people, whose searching had taken them to all parts of the world, decided to join together to build a new city. In their new city, they would prepare themselves to travel tens of millions of miles ? the longest journey that they had ever undertaken. They built their new city and they named it Euthenia.
The people of Euthenia work every day to prepare themselves and their children for the longest journey. They have resolved that they will not rest until they have climbed the tallest mountain on the most special star and looked up, once again, as their ancestors had done so long ago.
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Resolution of the City Council of the City of Euthenia
Resolved, that the foregoing myth shall be taught in the Euthenia City Schools.
Resolved Further, that the teachers in those schools shall prepare their students to conduct dramatic performances of this myth.
Resolved Further, that such performances shall occur during the time when Mars is in opposition to Earth.
This is to certify that the foregoing Resolution was unanimously adopted by the Euthenia City Council on May 1, 2007.
Signed, L. Tui, City Council Secretary
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Recent genetic analyses indicate that all modern peoples are descended from the !Kung, who still live in small bands in the Kalahari region of south central Africa. Geneticists believe that about 60,000 years ago some of the !Kung migrated out of Africa and colonized the entire world. Geneticists have not yet been able to determine whether these migrating !Kung were searching for tall mountains.
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?Myths, legends, and folk tales express cultural beliefs and values; offer hope, excitement, and vicarious escape; and teach lessons that society wants taught.?
Conrad Phillip Kottak, Cultural Anthropology, Third Edition (1982), page 186
"Analysis, whether economic or other, never yields more that a statement about the tendencies present in an observable pattern." Joseph A. Schumpeter; Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 1942
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A long, long time ago...
Did the brightest star in the sky inspire our ancestors to search for tall mountains and, incidentally, to conquer the world? Did their quest begin 60,000 years ago?
?On 27th August, Mars will be at its closest to Earth for almost 60,000 years. At its peak brightness, Mars will reach magnitude -2.9, far outshining the brightest star, Sirius (magnitude -1.5).? Royal Astronomical Society, Press Release of August 4, 2003 (posted on www.marstoday.com)
?From thousands of blood samples taken from all over the world in the last decade, Dr. Spencer Wells and his colleagues have decoded the history in our genes and can tell the definitive story of the human race--from the first people to leave Africa to over 6 billion people in every corner of the globe today. Astonishing revelations show beyond a doubt that everyone alive in the world today is descended from one man--the ?Adam? of the human race--as little as 60,000 years ago.? Journey of Man, National Geographic Channel (www.ngcasia.com)
60,000 years ago. Was it just coincidence or was it destiny?
"Analysis, whether economic or other, never yields more that a statement about the tendencies present in an observable pattern." Joseph A. Schumpeter; Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 1942
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