pre-publication special
book 4/1, campaigns & getting started
The Benefits of empowerment
I chose to publish this extract from the unpublished book 4/1, because it gives a good example of how simulations can help us to see what we are missing out on and what we could have if we put our minds to it.
All of book 4/1 is written without paragraphs to create a sense of how much the campaign team has to deal with. The following scene is one of the more relaxed scenes.
At noon Alice, Beatrice and Leo met with a group of regional majors again. A lot happened since the day by the lake, thirteen days ago, in particular, thanks to the project businesses. The meeting was jovial and further enhanced by Betsy’s delicious lunch which they took in one of the orchards behind Jellybridge House, not far from the large kitchen garden and far enough not to hear the protesters who had declined the offer of food. ‘They have no idea what they are missing,’ one of the mayors said. ‘Honestly, your kitchen is the best.’ Alice smiled lopsidedly. ‘I wouldn’t call Betsy a kitchen. She’s more like a soul. The most generous soul, I’ve ever met.’ ‘Tell me,’ another mayor said. ‘Did your project empower your cook?’ Today’s focus campaign was Benefits of empowerment, so Alice knew where the question came from and said: ‘Funny enough, I’d say no and yes. Betsy is a complete person in the sense that there is nothing that holds her back or that she holds back. She is — in the best possible sense. But through our presence here, she has the opportunity to spread the fullness of her being, of her potentials much further. She can have a more varied impact. In that respect, there is the kind of empowerment where you are lucky to have found someone like her, and you can give her new stages to be all she is and give all she has to offer.’ ‘Interesting.’ ‘I was shocked by the lost chances simulations, and I only saw three of them,’ another mayor said. ‘I haven’t seen them’ the mayor sitting next to Alice remarked. ‘I wouldn’t recommend it. The campaign team did simulations, singling out oppressive actions in the past and illustrating what could have been if people hadn’t been held back.’ ‘Such as?’ ‘If you must know, I watched the one about colonies. That’s horrible. All these lives, chained, their potentials buried forever. England would not be as rich, but the world would have been richer and more advanced if we as humans had focused on asking which talents everyone has and not which colour. It still gives me the shivers.’ ‘I watched the rape simulation. I never even thought about how much lasting damage a rape can cause, and how many people, women, men, children got and get broken, and how much progress the world forwent and still forgoes by allowing abuse to prevail.’ ‘I watched the one about war. Gruesome, too. But that simulation suggested something I would never have guessed. If there had been no wars but simply treaties between nations, and people would have focused on creating instead of destroying, the world population would never have exploded, and we would be much more advanced. The reasoning is apparently that if every person is allowed to be all they are, is in fact empowered and can use all their talents, then more research could have been completed and having children would be something people would consider carefully before deciding to become parents on top of everything they do and everything that is open to them. And that would have the positive side effect that only those people become parents who want to be parents and with that a lot less damage would be done to children. And if the population hadn’t exploded this much, our habitat wouldn’t be nearly as close to collapse as it is now. The simulation even suggests that the policy to have many children is the policy of warmongers, because — and I quote: ‘War eats children and war needs coffers full of money.’’ Another mayor looked at Alice: ‘Your other campaigns aren’t quite as dark.’ ‘This campaign has positive sides, too. There are simulations for the future. For example, what is possible tomorrow if we empower every human today?’ ‘And what is?’ ‘According to the simulation: everything. It really got me when I saw the first of these future simulations. At the end of the day, everything is simple. We just have to want it. And we have to put in the work to strip ourselves off old narratives and find the ones that serve us. No one wins by dividing the world into genders and making out that one is better than the other. No one wins by dividing the world into races and making out that the one is better than the other. No one wins by dividing the world into classes and making out that the one is better than the other. But we all win if and when we toss away the divides, rediscover our explorer spirit and create together.’ ‘You have a talent for words, Alice Adler. And you’ve won me insofar as that I am by now curious about your town. I don’t think what you attempt is possible, but I am curious, and I won’t get in the way.’
© Charlie Alice Raya, book 4/1, campaigns & getting started, 2024