Veracity by Mark Lavorato Read Free Book Online

authority over others, who don't have access to a lot of power - yet we have still found a way to abuse the little bit of power that we have. What about others? What about the scores of people who had more resources, more influence, who had the chance (and used their chance) to trigger suffering on the most extreme scales?
    "Think about it. Have all of those horrible things that you and I did, that mankind did, just disappeared into thin air after we did them? I'll tell you the answer: they didn't. Every one of our deliberate wrongs, every last bit of pain, every shred of damage that our kind has cumulatively caused, has all incurred an enormous debt - and it is a debt that we must pay."
    Harek turned to face me, nodding. "I know why you denied what you did when I first asked you. It was because you already wished that you hadn't done it. You wished you were perfect - or maybe just better. But the fact is, you aren't. And this alone is probably the hardest thing for a human being to admit. Yes, we might be able to look at our species as a whole and laugh at its absurdity, and we can certainly look at other cultures across the water and point out their faults, errors, and shortcomings, and we can even do this when we talk about our neighbours in the community, even our closest companions, but when it comes to looking at ourselves, things get a bit trickier. Most often, the nearer we come to our own hypocrisy, to our own petty meanness and cruel tendencies, the further from the truth of them we get.
    "Yet, that said, this doesn't always have to be the case. I believe - no, I know - that we have it in us to admit to ourselves exactly what we are. And this duty alone, this one incredibly taxing responsibility, happens to be the only possible salvation of the future. It is the most critical, most vital step that anyone can ever take.
    "And this is one of the reasons why I believe you show such potential, one of the reasons we've selected you. You've proven to have some analytical talent, the capacity to offer insight into yourself and the world around you. You seem to be able to question yourself, doubt yourself, which, strangely enough, is exactly what we need you to do.
    "As it turns out, your Coming of Age isn't about a careful lie, as it was with almost all of the others; it is about truth. But more importantly, it is about finding out if you have what it takes to grasp that truth - because it is always a concept that is extremely intricate, challenging, and often enough, even dangerous. And this struggle to hold onto the coldest, hardest, and most difficult truth, to ask yourself, and then re-ask yourself, and then re-ask yourself again if what you see in front of you is really there, and not just what you would
like
to see there, this constant and gruelling dedication to truth has a name. It's called veracity. And it isn't an ideology or a religion, it's a path. And the only reason that you are here today is because we honestly believe that you have it in you to stop and consciously choose that path - and then, to walk with us along it."
    He stopped as if he was waiting for a response of some kind, but I didn't have one; in fact, I didn't feel like I had much of anything. I felt spent, worn, like I'd been ripped apart and thrown onto the ground, stepped on, spat on, left for dead. The very last thing I wanted to do was say anything, so I gave Harek a look that I hoped would indicate my wish to forfeit any active dialogue from this point on. He seemed to understand, and continued.
    "However, before any of this can even begin to take place, you need to have some time to reflect on what we've said, to think about it, because one of the most natural reactions that a person has to difficult news is to initially suppress it in their minds, to blind themselves from it. It's called denial, and before we can move on any further, you will have to get through this stage; which, we believe, is something best done on your own (at least