Shanti by John Walters

Author:John Walters
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: shapeshifting, alien contact, monsters, space port
Publisher: Astaria Books
Published: 2019-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

Afterword to "Shanti"

Seldom have I ever met people in leadership positions as reprehensible as the couple that I base the new leadership upon in this story. Yes, Clarence and Lydia Hiddleton are based upon real live assholes who abruptly appeared in an isolated faraway part of the world, made themselves at home, and set themselves up as local tyrants. Their subordinates, because of their situations and lack of funds to make quick exits, had to comply with their unreasonable and often egregious demands. Nobody liked them; everyone could see through their sickening pseudo-aristocratic exteriors into their fetid festering puss-filled excuses for souls, but no one had the authority to stand up to them.

I was one of the victims, and I was indeed assigned to the kitchen. I got into a routine; I learned to get by. I'm sorry I can't really get more specific about the situation, but there are factors involved that make me not want to dredge it up. Suffice it to say that Clarence and Lydia are close enough to real people that I can picture them in my mind even now. I envision their portraits with descending sizes of circles such as you might find on a dart board or a target at a shooting range. They were that bad. They eventually got not only deposed but exposed. It turned out they had been guilty of much worse crimes than anyone had imagined. They left in disgrace and inwardly everyone cheered.

If I didn't model my villains after those two, though, I could easily have come up with alternatives. Historical records are full of assholes in positions of power. In fact, when I take a quick mental look back through history, I realize that emperors, kings, princes, dictators, presidents, prime ministers, supreme chancellors, chief executives, commanders in chief, and other heads of state are more often bad guys than good guys. After all, what motivates these people to seek positions of power anyway? A very few are born to it, and these inevitably have built-in elitist attitudes. A very small minority might seek political office as servants of the people and desire only to aid their fellow citizens. The vast majority, though, I would guess, at a certain point desire power for power's sake, and give up a good deal of their ethics and principles as they climb the ladder to positions of authority.

I could be wrong. I hope I am. I would love to believe that those politicians out there are making decisions for our good and not their own, but I suppose I've become a bit cynical in my old age.

I recently read a book about the European settlement of North America. It's so tempting to idealize it, to think of those noble, intrepid pioneers braving the wilderness and carving out homes and raising families. The truth, again, is not simple. It is complex and convoluted. Yes, they wanted fresh starts and freedom and open spaces and homes for their families, but many of them paid terrible prices for these things.

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