The Emperor's Epistle to Democratic Underground

[Emperor_Norton_II]

Friends, liberals, countrymen, assorted wildlife, lend me your eyes:

I’ve been spinning my wheels for the past while on Tasks.

Not just tasks – those are generally just assignments, chores, busywork, which may lend a bit of stability or action to life but tend to do little beyond that.

I’m thinking Tasks.

Hear that capital T dropping into place? I’m not necessarily thinking about something involving stables or the like, but I am thinking of something of significance, something which leads people to significant deeds (or Deeds, but Deeds can be derived either from tasks, Tasks, or neither, and while generally extremely cool are an altogether different topic), some kind of major improvements for self or society, or something entirely different. Something which drives someone, or someones, with a level of intensity that cannot easily reach, and once reached leaves them as better people, or a better society.

Tasks can happen with great ease or great difficulty at the individual level – I discovered my own some years ago, and feel no less driven by it now than I did the day it showed up at the front door of my mind and proceeded to ransack the place. You can’t reliably say how many individuals these days are Tasked with something, of course, without talking to them.

What I’m thinking about, however, is the sometimes astonishing time when a society Tasks itself with some great project.

Societies will only rarely take up a Task, as it is going to require the agreement – or at least the tolerant acquiescence – of a large chunk of whatever group it is involving. You only really see a couple of them appear every generation, at least per region; occaisionally we’re lucky enough to live in a time when the whole bloody planet gets one, although such moments are usually ephemeral.

It’s somewhat difficult to come up with a list of Tasks that large chunks of population have come up with lately. Historians like ‘em; they’re breaks in the continuity, branches in the road, and generally times where something Big happened. Usually, Tasks are constructive, but not necessarily. The main idea of them seems to be that, at some point, a large chunk of a culture thinks at about the same time, “let’s do this” – and does it. There’s a lot of examples of this sort of thing (relatively speaking) from the past couple of centuries: the Meiji Restoration, much of the Second World War, the very existence of the UN and peacekeeping. National space programs – witness Brazil’s dogged determination right now, one of the more moving reactions I’ve felt watching a space program – are definitely amongst those, and within them the Herculean effort which lead to one small step a little more than thirty-four years ago. The massive civil rights and pro-democracy movements which flared in the American south, the European east, and over much of Africa also certainly count – and the growing African Union is an offshoot from the last which certainly warrants following.

One of my personal favorite Tasks was when the world said “enough!” one day, and proceeded to refuse to blink until smallpox was eradicated as a disease.

We do this sort of thing now and then. It’s been going on since Rome chose not to roll over and fold a little over 2219 years ago, and was probably going on way before that.

Oh, you want a point.

My point is that I consider this sort of thing to be the type of event which brings out some of that latent magnificence everyone has but doesn’t seem to notice until they end up making some use of it. When large groups of people get together and decide some great thing must be done or fixed or cured or built, the results can be astonishing.

Someone said “we choose to go to the Moon,” and enough people decided this was proper that by the end of that decade men gazed upon the Earth from another body’s surface. Someone said “we must wipe out this plague,” and enough people decided this was proper that by the end of that decade one of the deadliest diseases in human history was not simply controlled but annihilated.

While this is not always a positive thing – every now and then someone’s going to say “kauft nicht in judischen Geschaften” – but for the most part I believe that when a lot of people get together, centre on some major project, and follow it through, great things generally happen. The opposite, however, seems to be a problem as well.

In short, aimlessness is a bad thing. It’s felt like, at least for awhile – shortly after the end of the Cold War, from what I can see – any sense of direction’s seemed to leave much of the world. I obviously don’t exactly support the Cold War or much of what went on during it, but it seems that we’ve replaced one form of destructive focus with a worse one – a lot of western culture that I can see is currently busily looking for something to take down. Opposing political parties. Wings of political thought. Trenchcoats. Homosexuals. Muslims. Pacifists. Intellectuals. The general, reactionary tone of aliquis delenda est rather than any attempt at searching for something to do, to make, to improve.

It troubles me. A lot.

The thing is, despite everything I read and see – hell, half of what I talk about and even advocate at times – I do my best to stay, if not simply optimistic or hopeful, then constantly seeking optimism and hope. I hope to see the world, or at least large chunks of it, find some form of Task – these days I’ll settle for a mere task – with which to commit Deeds of some significance. Such things are few and far between – Brazil’s picking itself up from the ashes; Russia and China making noises about doing the same (again, in the former’s case); people wishing to reform governments, the United Nations, and whatever else they can to improve upon the existing bodies; any number of things exist as opportunities.

I want Tasks, dammit.

I want you, or (better) you-and-your-friends, or (better still) whatever culture you consider yourself a part of, or (ideally) humanity as a whole to discover some calling, some duty, some project and create, or cure, or find something that will test skills, spirits and sinews, produce a mighty work, and leave all who partook or witnessed a little bit stronger, a little bit wiser, as a result.

I want to see something that future generations can look back on with pride – genuine pride – and the realization that something was run up, not torn down, through the actions of their ancestors. The sort of thing that comes across a few times a generation, siezes entire nations, focuses them on something truly good, and gives humanity something to do other than tear itself down in a siezure of antipathy.

What Tasks do you know of? Which do you support? Which would you want to see occur?

What have you done to support those tasks? What have you done to arouse the passions of others, or a few, or even one person – just one person! – towards some objective majestic or mundane which could improve our condition and character even one bit?

Those of you with aspirations, plans and hopes, speak of them. They must be heard!

POSTSCRIPT: And for the record, boosting one politician over another does not count as a Task.