Dear Civilization 2110,
It is currently exactly one hundred years preceding your existence, if you count the year in which I am writing. I will most likely be deceased by the time that this compilation of letters is actually applicable to your time period, and if current situations continue to occur as they have been occurring, you may not exist either, but that should not matter—history is history, and history cannot be changed.
Actually, I should not say that history is not changeable, because it most undoubtedly can be changed; or, for further clarification, the history that can be learned can be changed. History is the account of man through the ages, written or spoken, distributed or kept under a lock and key. Some history is destroyed, some remains intact. It is only the history that remains intact that allows us to make conclusions on our past, and it is only history that remains intact and untouched that allows us to make certain conclusions on our past. We will never know about those important documents that were intentionally set on fire during World War II to destroy evidence of the Nazi regime, nor will we ever know of the account of each living soldier because of his premature death during the Seven Years’ War.
History will never be complete. History is only what survives, and what survives is most likely biased in some way, shape, or form. History is written by the victors and the leaders, and history can be rewritten by those powerful enough to rewrite it.
But I digress; these letters are not about history, per se. This is more of a commentary on life during the year 2011 as per the Gregorian calendar. I don’t know if these letters will be published in the future, nor do I care. Someone will find them, someone will cherish them and someone will learn from them.
Ethics and morality are perpetually changing. What is currently ethical and moral is different than what was ethical and moral in 1911. The same logic also applies to the future, or rather, your present. It is my hope that by the time these essays are relevant, society has rid itself of the hypocrisy that exists in the world of 2011.
However, for one to begin to rid the world of its hypocrisy, or at the very least know whether or not it has gone, one must know the pertaining issues of society. Throughout the next year, I will delve into a wide array of topics at a rate of about one every two weeks. Each topic will describe a single social, ethical, moral or other relevant issue to society in the year 2011. Some articles may correlate with my own personal views, and others may not. However, all will be written with respect to accuracy; there will be no false statements, and this may offend certain readers, especially readers of my year. I take no blame for what is said, for I have given the warning that my hand will not hold back; no topic is off limits, and social taboo does not apply.
I do have to admit in advance that quite a few of the articles in this collection may contain bias, and for that, I am most profoundly and regrettably sorry. I am human, just like you, and I anticipate that you will be able to forgive me for this fact. I will attempt to keep my writing as impartial as possible; despite this, however, I do not promise anything. The purpose of this compilation is to write about social issues of which everyone has their own opinion, including myself. You will have to distinguish between what you should believe and what you should not; conversely, regardless of the positions I interpret throughout the next year, I urge all readers to keep their minds open and doubt what they otherwise already accept as true. It is a fact of life that not everything you hear and everything you already believe is truth. You alone must decide what you should accept as true. Doubt, and then decide.
Now, I think that I should reveal to you I will not reveal my exact age, at least until the end of this series; age is but a number and it should not affect your opinions on my writings. I will say, however, that I am young, and that I reside in the middle of the eastern coast of a nation that is, at the present time, called the United States of America. I do think that this is important to know, for my relative age and location do, however extensively, shape my beliefs and actions; since I am young, I have a fresh mind, and since I live in a relatively democratic country, I encounter hypocritical views and double standards firsthand. I know for a fact that if I were born in the current Middle East, my views would be different, for the experiences that shape my current mindset would have been different. Nevertheless, knowing my relative age and location does not give the right to doubt my words; although I am young, I am intelligent, and although I live in the United States of America, my observations are still valid.
I will not insult your intelligence by giving you a lengthy history of the United States and of the rest of the world, because it is most likely that you have had, or are taking a history course (though, I’m not sure how reliable that the course is, since I have already declared that history is biased and changeable). The United States, at the time of writing this particular letter, is under the leadership of the first African-American president of its history. Despite this huge step towards communal equality, there is a long way to go. We still have yet to have a woman president, an openly homosexual or bisexual president, an openly atheist president, and an openly Jewish president, to name a few groups that suffer from prejudice and discrimination. Although some of these groups face more discrimination than others, the fact is that discrimination is still existent is the driving reason behind this assortment of writings.
It has been through personal experience during my relatively short life, depending on whom you ask, that I will be able to write these coming commentaries. To inscribe pen on paper is not an extremely difficult task, no, but to form comprehensible sentences about how life works is incredibly daunting. I confess entirely that I may be unsuccessful in this undertaking, regardless of how committed I am to completing it. I must note that I have already failed at this task during the year 2010, creating only four entries before having to stop due to a lack of time; however, I realise that may have felt overwhelmed because I had desired to complete one topic daily. Instead, once every two weeks, including other articles when I have the time, ending on 31 December 2011, should allow me to be complete enough in my analysis of society. Regardless, if I fail once again at my task, which I have no intention of doing so this time, have no fear—even completing one essay means my original goal of limiting ignorance has already started taking place.
I must state that by the time that you examine this, persons living in the year 2110, it is my dire hope that you will not understand anything of which you will soon read, not because of changes in language, but because the ideas and topics are so unnatural, so foreign, that you have not the slightest idea where to begin comprehending. Nevertheless, I express my gratitude to you for taking the time to join me on my quest to open the mind and search the soul for answers that, at the time of this writing, are currently either unknown, forgotten, avoided, or considered unimportant.
Respectfully yours,
Matthew Sherridan (08.01.2011)
