Dragons

[Mortos]

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom that rose up out of the ashes of war. During the war, the people of this land used everything at their disposal to gain independence from the powerful king who was trying to subjugate them, including dragons that could expel fire from their mouths. The dragons were small and hard to come by. They didn't always perform well and were only effective at close range. The dragons would become tired easily and had to be constantly tended to and fed after each use. But they helped to win the war and the people rejoiced.

After the war was won, the people of the great new land wrote rules and laws in an effort to insure that future generations would be free. They had seen how dragons, in the hands or organized fighters, had helped them obtain their independence and wanted to make sure that they would always have that option. So they included it in a sacred text. They wrote, "Organized soldiers, being necessary to keep our land free from invaders, the right of the people to keep and bear dragons, shall not be infringed."

Many, many years later, dragons were no longer small. Dragon breeders had made them larger, faster and more destructive. Where it once took many dragons to fight against enemies, now one dragon could produce enough devastation to destroy an army. And once upon a time, dragons were hard to come by and expensive to own, now they were plentiful and cheap. Where the dragons were once used only against foreign invaders and to hunt for food, now they were primarily used by the people of the kingdom against each other over petty fights and wrongs or sometimes for no reason at all other than evil and hate.

As the dragons became more destructive in the hands of madmen, the dragon breeders argued the only way to combat all of the violence caused by dragons was for more people to have dragons and to bring them with them everywhere they go. The kingdom soon fell into a fiery spiral of violence and mayhem. A self fulfilling prophecy began to arise as destruction and terror led to more dragon fire and death and the demand for dragons increased.

Dragon breeders profited handsomely as good people gave in to fear and clamored for more destructive dragons and cried out that they needed to be free to bring their dragons to schools and churches and shops to defend against bad men with dragons. Soon, there was nothing left but the charred remains of a once great kingdom. Fire consumed every other freedom: The freedom to live, the freedom of safety, the freedom to gather, the freedom to speak. All burned to the ground by fear and anger and madness. It wasn't the dragons fault. It was the fault of people who wanted to wage constant war where none existed. It was the fault of people who profited from death and destruction. It was the fault of those who would not take a stand and say, "Enough with the dragons!"

When dragons do exactly what they are meant to do, don't be surprised when your world is destroyed by fire.

[BobbyDrake]

1. It disgusts me that we placate paranoia at the cost of innocent lives.

If it weren't for the ridiculous idiots ago think everyone is out to get them, the guns right movement might be able to back sensible regulations that keep both gun owners and non-owners safe.

[Mortos]

2. Guns?

I guess this could be analogous to guns. I was writing about deadly dragons and their misuse.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Yes, they are a problem

Personally, I blame lack of regulation and oversight of the dragon-breeding industry.

[Mortos]

4. The Dragon breeding industry

Has gotten a little out of hand.