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theatrical_muse] 270 - Thirteen
Feb. 26th, 2009 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arrow_of_apollo270 - Thirteen
((A press release from the Office of the Vice-President of the Colonies))
When I was in high school, my friends and I went to a local street fair and dared one another to go into a fortune teller's tent. She wasn't an Oracle or Priestess or anything like that, just some woman in a colorful scarf and lots of bracelets that I assumed would look at my palm or deal some cards and tell me vague, imprecise predictions that would apply to anyone.
I was the one who ended up walking in, of course, and instead of cards, she asked me my birth date. She said that numbers had great significance. She jotted down the date and did some calculations, I guess... and proceeded to make a bunch of vague, imprecise predictions that would apply to anyone.
That pretty much convinced me that numbers having great significance was anything but garbage. Until now.
Twelve Colonies, founded by the Twelve Tribes of Man that set out from Kobol and into the vast expanse of space, where the human race flourished until our own creations destroyed almost every last one of us. A Thirteenth Tribe, another group of our ancestors that traveled in the other direction, as far from Kobol as they could, eventually settling another Colony, this one known as Earth.
And to represent our Colonies, we created the Quorum: twelve representatives, one for each world, to give the people a voice in the way they were governed and protected and served. Twelve voices, usually all speaking at once. Twelve men and women, held up as leaders. But above them, we set one more person, the President of the Colonies. We established a thirteenth leader, a supreme leader, above the others, so that (at least in theory) the Colonial government would never be deadlocked or stalled by dissenting voice and one will, for better or worse, could guide us.
Now, though? I think it might be time to break the hold this number has on us. After Felix Gaeta's mutiny and Tom Zarek's coup, I think it's clearer than ever that the government is going to need to change and evolve in order to better represent and meet the needs of its citizens.
The human landscape has changed drastically, and I mean that in a literal sense. There are no more Twelve Colonies, and dividing our people amongst them no longer applies. Everyone in the fleet, from the President and the Admiral and on, lives in a place that is defined by the ship they're on. I've been out in the fleet and have seen how individual ships or small clusters of ships have begun to develop their own unique communities and societies.
While we're still in a generation that is basing our lives and beliefs by our time on the Twelve Colonies, a time will come when that won't be true. The human race will be a different kind of people, and its government needs to reflect that.
So now that we begin the process of helping shape this new Quorum, or whatever we the people decide to call it, our cooperation-- all our cooperation-- is more important than ever.
(530)
((A press release from the Office of the Vice-President of the Colonies))
When I was in high school, my friends and I went to a local street fair and dared one another to go into a fortune teller's tent. She wasn't an Oracle or Priestess or anything like that, just some woman in a colorful scarf and lots of bracelets that I assumed would look at my palm or deal some cards and tell me vague, imprecise predictions that would apply to anyone.
I was the one who ended up walking in, of course, and instead of cards, she asked me my birth date. She said that numbers had great significance. She jotted down the date and did some calculations, I guess... and proceeded to make a bunch of vague, imprecise predictions that would apply to anyone.
That pretty much convinced me that numbers having great significance was anything but garbage. Until now.
Twelve Colonies, founded by the Twelve Tribes of Man that set out from Kobol and into the vast expanse of space, where the human race flourished until our own creations destroyed almost every last one of us. A Thirteenth Tribe, another group of our ancestors that traveled in the other direction, as far from Kobol as they could, eventually settling another Colony, this one known as Earth.
And to represent our Colonies, we created the Quorum: twelve representatives, one for each world, to give the people a voice in the way they were governed and protected and served. Twelve voices, usually all speaking at once. Twelve men and women, held up as leaders. But above them, we set one more person, the President of the Colonies. We established a thirteenth leader, a supreme leader, above the others, so that (at least in theory) the Colonial government would never be deadlocked or stalled by dissenting voice and one will, for better or worse, could guide us.
Now, though? I think it might be time to break the hold this number has on us. After Felix Gaeta's mutiny and Tom Zarek's coup, I think it's clearer than ever that the government is going to need to change and evolve in order to better represent and meet the needs of its citizens.
The human landscape has changed drastically, and I mean that in a literal sense. There are no more Twelve Colonies, and dividing our people amongst them no longer applies. Everyone in the fleet, from the President and the Admiral and on, lives in a place that is defined by the ship they're on. I've been out in the fleet and have seen how individual ships or small clusters of ships have begun to develop their own unique communities and societies.
While we're still in a generation that is basing our lives and beliefs by our time on the Twelve Colonies, a time will come when that won't be true. The human race will be a different kind of people, and its government needs to reflect that.
So now that we begin the process of helping shape this new Quorum, or whatever we the people decide to call it, our cooperation-- all our cooperation-- is more important than ever.
(530)
