Saturday, September 01, 2007

Children's Story: A Flat Earth

The following is a work a fiction. Any resemblance to persons real or imagined are purely coincidental... you get the drift.




There was a man named George. He believed that the earth was flat. He believed that the North Pole was at the center of a disc that made up the earth, and the edge of the disc was ringed by a tall wall of ice which made up Antarctica.

Throughout the years, many people tried to convince George that the earth is really a sphere, more or less a ball, but George would have none of that.

The others would try to argue and explain how the turning of the earth is how we get days and nights. George would respond that it was really the sun that was going around the earth. At night, the sun would be on the bottom side of the disc, and in the morning, the sun would come up on the eastern edge of the disc.

The others tried to argue about the ocean tides. They tried to explain about the moon and how the gravity from the moon causes the tides to rise and fall. George would simply say that the disc tilted slightly on each end a couple of times a day and that cause the tides to change.

"Well, what about how objects disappear as they get more distant on the horizon?" the others asked. They used balls and toothpicks to try to get George to see how objects on a curved surface eventually disappear out of sight when they get far enough apart. But George simply said that mountains and waves simply ended up hiding the objects the farther away they got. And not only that but eyesight wasn't good enough to see things that far.

There finally came a time when astronauts went up, away from the earth, and took pictures and videos of the earth from space and allowed everyone to see what the earth looks like. The others thought, "Finally, George is going to have to admit that the earth is a sphere."

George looked at the pictures and the video and simply said, "They're fakes. Someone from Hollywood made those up." And then he asked the others, "Were you there? Did you actually see for yourself? How do you know these so-called astronauts are telling the truth?"

After so many years of trying to convince George that the earth wasn't flat, the others had reached the end of their ropes. They were exasperated. They went through all the earlier arguments, but in much louder voices. They began to make fun of George, call him all sorts of nasty things, let him know that he was an idiot and stupid for not believing that the earth is a sphere.

Soon, not only were they making fun of George, but they were threatening to do him harm unless George believed like they did. Some even began to physically attack and assault George, trying to force him to admit that the earth is a sphere.

Seeing that they weren't getting anywhere, they called the authorities who had George arrested for "holding to beliefs that undermine and threaten an orderly society." Those who had attacked George were questioned but let go because they had helped bring into custody "a person dangerous to society."

A trial was held and the judges once again attempted to force George to admit that the earth is round and not flat. For days this went on. They had him whipped. They made him go without food and very little water. They threatened to keep him locked up until he died. One of the judges even suggested that maybe George should be hanged for causing such a disturbance in society.

On the final day of the trial, the authorities brought in the astronauts that had brought back the pictures and the video of the earth. The authorities hoped that by hearing directly from the astronauts, George would finally be convinced that they were right and he was wrong.

The astronauts gave a detailed story of how they had traveled away from the earth and saw for themselves the spherical earth. But George was not convinced. He accused them of being paid by the authorities to make up the story. The courtroom erupted into a mass of chaos as the people tried to get their hands on George, to try to once again beat him into submission.

As order was finally restored and a bloodied George sat on the bench nursing fresh wounds, the astronaut commander asked the head judge if he could speak. The judge granted the request.

The commander got up and addressed the court, "Your honors. It is quite clear that no amount of logic, no strength of argument, no physical force, and no threats are sufficient to convince Messr. George to change his beliefs about the physical form of the earth. Even eyewitness evidence and testimony are not sufficient for him. May I request the court to allow him to accompany us on our next mission? Perhaps if Messr. George sees and experiences for himself, he might come to see the possibility that the earth is spherical. After all, Messr. George does have some valid points for his beliefs. And if afterwards he chooses to continue to believe that the earth is flat, what real harm is done?"

There was some grumbling and arguing and debate about this unusual request. But after some minutes, the judges granted the request.

Some months later, George found himself strapped in a seat inside the cockpit of a spaceship. The engines came to life. 5-4-3-2-1… The engines roared and they began their ascent, away from the ground. Faster and faster they traveled upward. George could see the ground getting farther and farther away. "The earth looks like a disc," he thought to himself. But as they got higher and higher, the disc started to warp around the edges, starting to take on the look of a sphere. Soon they were far enough away that the entire earth could be seen. Not all of the continents could be seen on the visible surface. And as time passed, he could see that the earth looked as if it was rotating… Continents disappeared from view while new land appeared. George looked at the stars in the distance and could see that the spaceship hadn't changed position…

The End.

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