Run.

[Scribbly]

What the fuck are you standing there for?

Christ, look around you son. The sky really is falling. Its the end of the world! Oh, sure, it isn't a flaming meteor or a mushroom cloud, but that doesn't make it any less deadly. What it does mean is, you've got a chance. So come on, pick up the pace, I'm not going to keep dawdling forever...

Good, okay, you're a little slow but you'll pick it up. One foot in front of the other, don't look behind you--

I said don't look behind you.

Yeah, its picking up momentum now, scary I know. But if you keep running you can make it. WE can make it. Just got to, oops, got to slow it down somehow. Hey, just a sec--

Oh come on. It worked didn't it? Joe was an asshole anyway, and that's got it off our heels. Just try and ignore the screaming, unless you'd like to hear it much closer.

Hahah, yeah, thought that'd put the spring back in your step.

What is it? Damned if I could tell you, son. It started off small. These things usually do. Nobody even noticed it until it was dragging them down. Spread from nothing to, well, this, in just a few years. It was inevitable with hindsight. What, you think people can just have fun and not pay for it?

Oh look, someone's erected a barrier up ahead. No, no, this can work for us. See? They're parting a little for us. No don't join them you idiot, its too big now. Keep with me, I'll see you safe to the finish line. 'Occupy Tsunami'. Nice idea, but...

Wait, don't tell me you still think who started this is important.

Kid, let me tell you something. Who started it, what it is, that doesn't matter. You see a train coming you get off the tracks. You see an endless hell bearing down on you, you run. Doesn't matter where to, doesn't matter how, you just keep moving. Stop moving, and you're dead. Look at those guys back there, by the sounds of it, they didn't fare much better than poor Joe, and -- don't look at me like that.

Sounds like it is getting closer, I'll just have a look--

Wow, they didn't slow it down as much as I'd hoped. Actually sounds pissed now. But that's okay. Finish line is just up past this bend. Pick up the pace.

Come on. A little further. Yes, I know its burning, but we're almost there now.

Well where did you think we were running to? Haven't you been paying attention?

Here's your shovel. Just six more feet to go.

[BabylonHoruv]

[The Good Reverend Roger]

They told Audie Murphy to run, but he never had the sense to do it, right?  He stood in front of that Nazi train all by his fucking lonesome, and what the fuck?  He BEAT it.  Then he went and made some movies and one day he's out driving his convertible and BAM!  That fucking train got him anyway, only it looked like a tree.

He should have run, I suppose, but some people just can't.  They say things like "Here I stand, I can do no other.", and it's always glorious when they put their shoulder into it and get splattered anyway.

Then we say "That was AWESOME!  How fucking badass was THAT guy?", burp, and change the channel because, you know, Lost is coming on.

[Freeky]

Damn, Demosquid. 

[The Wizard Joseph]

AHHH doom!

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

[Murmur]

 

[Scribbly]

They told Audie Murphy to run, but he never had the sense to do it, right?  He stood in front of that Nazi train all by his fucking lonesome, and what the fuck?  He BEAT it.  Then he went and made some movies and one day he's out driving his convertible and BAM!  That fucking train got him anyway, only it looked like a tree.

He should have run, I suppose, but some people just can't.  They say things like "Here I stand, I can do no other.", and it's always glorious when they put their shoulder into it and get splattered anyway.

Then we say "That was AWESOME!  How fucking badass was THAT guy?", burp, and change the channel because, you know, Lost is coming on.

"Here I stand, I can do no other."

Those are powerful words, Reverend. The implication is that if he can't, neither should you.

But it is a lie, isn't it? Because we CAN do other. We do other every day. We sit back, and we watch the rising tide of filth with a mixture of confusion and amusement. When some brave soul does do something to try and push it back... as you say, we cheer and smile, and then move on. We're awful creatures; everything we touch turns to shit sooner or later.

The really funny thing is that we even do the same to those moments where we might have risen above it. Did you know that 'Here I stand, I can do no other.' is a matter of debate, now? Historians actually argue that those words might never have been spoken. The controversy is the first thing you get if you type it into Google. And, as everyone knows, Google is the ultimate arbiter of what is worth knowing.

We look at the heroes of the past, and we pick and pick and pick until we find that one little fault in them... and then we tear them down so they never had legs to stand on, and toss them under the cresting wave. Isn't it nice to think that there's nobody better than we are? That the best amongst us were only motivated by greed, selfishness or desperation. Three qualities we have in abundance, and desperately want to see in others; and if we can't see those, we'll sneer and call them ignorant or stupid, or imply that their notions are hopelessly idealistic when we're talking about we, modern, educated people. That's why the founding fathers aren't safe. Like Ozymandias, everything fades with time. You can't have a colossus these days; people might realize that they aren't even apes any more. Just worms, crawling in filth they consider gold.

Audie Murphy has escaped so far. But nothing is sacred. Taking a stand just means you're an easy target in the future. It might take a hundred years, but they'll be swallowed up and spat out eventually. Nothing can breathe in a river of sewage, Reverend, and that's what our history is, now, isn't it?