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Telos Moral(es) Adam
by
David J. Collins
It is January 1st of 2039, six O'clock a.m. According to the alarm clock; the start of a new day. Everything seems usual. I can hear the whistle of the train as I always do at this hour of the morning.
Mondays are always slow so it seems. But here of late I've been feeling a strangeness lurking in the air. It is something that I can't quite put my finger on.
Time to turn the radio on and hear what the weather's going to be like. What? Another poor couple found murdered in their home. Another politician accused of abusing his authority and office. More talk of the AIDS epidemic. Can you believe it? Another loss for Affirmative Action. Same old blood baths in the Middle East. It appears that we're going to have a nice wintry day 34 degrees with clear skies.
That's one thing that I can say positive about Memphis, it has fairly decent weather year round. I'd better get a move on or they'll be saying in the office that T.M. Adam was late this morning. How they love to gossip. I've got to stop and get some gas, because the car's gauge is on empty. I'll just pull into this Seven-Eleven and fill the car up.
There's the neighbor who lives across the street. Good morning, how are you doing? The rudeness of some people. He could have at least spoken back. Yes Ms. I would like to fill up on pump three please. She just snatched my money and never once even so much as looked at me, and to think that she's working with the public with her attitude. Oh well, I'd better get a move on. I'll take the interstate and save time. It seems very congested this morning and as slow as traffic is moving there's certain to have been an accident up ahead. By the slowness of traffic it must be a very bad accident. I'll get off at the first exit.
I think I can see the vehicle involved just ahead. There must be a lot of debris on the interstate as slow as the traffic has become. It's almost to a halt. Can you believe this? There appears to have been only two cars involved and both show only minor damage. Everyone comes to a halt at this point to look upon what they hope will be human misery. Everyone's head turns at this point in anticipation of some bloody and gory sight. Perhaps they possess a hope of seeing a dismembered body. There appears to be a darker motive. It has something to do with this "lurking strangeness" in the air.
It's good to smell the coffee aroma in the office. I'll get a cup and start my work day off. Good morning Barbara, Good morning Adam. Barbara, how often have I asked you to call me Telos? One would think that I was vastly older than you. Good morning Adam. Good morning Bob. Do you have a moment to participate in my conversation with Barbara? I believe that its subject matter applies to you also. I was just asking Barbara once again to call me by my first name. As you were about to say Barbara. Adam its just that I'm accustomed to calling you by your last name.
Exactly Adam, Barbara and I don't mean anything offensive by calling you by your last name. We refer to everyone by their last name. But can't you and Barbara understand that last names are very impersonal? I disagree Adam. Maybe Bob does not. No Barbara I agree. I prefer last name addresses. Very well Barbara and Bob suit yourselves.
Perhaps, Barbara and Bob are right. Maybe I'm making too much of their manner of addressing me and their other co-workers. I feel something instinctively wrong with their manner of address. Enough of this; time to get busy.
Telos Adam line two. Telos Adam pickup on line two. Telos Adam can I help you. Yes Mr. Smith I'll be there in just a minute. Now what could Mr. Smith want with me. Yes Mr. Smith I came directly here.
Come in Telos and have a seat. Yes sir.
Telos an incredible situation has surfaced. Really Mr. Smith, what is it? Do you remember the Test that the company gave so much priority to a few months ago. Why yes Mr. Smith, you're referring to the personality and temperament Test. As you may recall Telos the purpose of the Test was to weed out undesirables. Yes Mr. Smith I am aware of its purpose. Well Telos a surprising situation has presented itself. One individual's Test proved so abnormal and deviant that the company presented the results to the law enforcement authorities. One must be careful nowadays Mr. Smith to take all precautions. I'm glad you agree Telos. At any rate the FBI and CIA has discovered that one of the employee's past is shrouded in mystery. That employee is you Telos. Me! Why that's preposterous Mr. Smith. You must be joking with me right?
No Telos. I am very serious. You see Telos
you're not of Spanish and Greek descent as you suppose or have been told.
Neither were you raised by your biological parents. Your parents were Jews.
You're of Jewish descent. You're descended from a lineage of Zadokite priests.
The government assigned you the name of Enosh Belial Rasha, but your parents
disobeyed and named you Enosh Zedek Qadosh. Then as an infant you were smuggled
out of Jerusalem and brought to the United States where you were adopted by a
couple of Spanish and Greek descent.
Telos what do you have to say for youself? Mr. Smith I don't understand the need
to have had me investigated. Even if this information is true the investigation
made no sense. The Test was to rule out undesirables, while all my life I have
received humanitarians awards, been cited as a philanthropist, and received
recognition for civic duties. I am pro-life. I support law enforcement. I serve
as a deacon on my church's official board. I organized my neighborhood's watch
program. I work as a volunteer on several drug and alcohol abuse programs. I
cannot understand this Mr. Smith.
Telos it is simple. All of these activities that you have named were once considered jewels of virtue, but now are considered socio-pathic urges. Recall the events of your life Telos and you will perhaps begin to understand what this means. Can't you remember telling me Telos that you were never entertained during puberty by the succubus, that temptress of young boys, who loves to arouse the libido and cause one to gyrate with only a shadow. Can't you remember telling me many years ago how loathsome you considered masturbation to be and that you thought it animalistic and debasing. I'm sure you recall telling me how you listened with disgust to your teen-age friends tell of their conquests of females, and how you abhorred any acts of Don Juanism and semblances of Casanova. Do you remember these Telos? Yes, I remember.
Do you recall Telos how angry you became in your twenties when you heard someone try and justify divorce? I remember how emphatically you preached commitment. You always advocated justice and denounced man's inhumanity toward man. Can you not remember your tireless defense of disarmament amid the cries of traitor, as you tried to open the closed eyes of indifference, which you felt was blinding this nation? Reminisce, if you will Telos and you will see yourself enraged by the silent cries of dying infants being murdered by co-conspirators falsely identifying themselves as mother and physician.
Turn the clock back and you will see the Telos of a few years ago who proclaimed to the criminal justice system that they cannot continue to punish acts of violence with other acts of violence, different only in the latter being sanctioned by society. These are but a few examples which give validity to and evidence of a once naive society consisting of individuals prone to fits of madness instigated by longings for utopia, that are without dimension and substance. In other words Telos you are a misfit by every connotation of the word. Simply put you are the last of a rare breed.
Indeed Mr. Smith, I do began to see. In other words I am a gadfly that can no longer be tolerated by this permissive and indulgent society. You are correct Telos. You must understand that the world has now been set on its correct course thanks to the wisdom of the Supreme One. Who do you refer to Mr. Smith? God. God Telos, ha, ha. Indeed your mind is filled with fantasies and myths. No Telos and I warn you never make mention to me or anyone else of your notion of God. We live in an age in which we have been emancipated from your Judeo-Christian idea of God.
If you must know Telos the Supreme One is greater than your mythical monotheistic idea of God could ever be. I am speaking of the Supreme Zarathustra - may his name forever be blessed.
The truth is that all gods are dead and Prometheus is unbound. So then Mr. Smith I am to meet a like fate as Socrates. Correct Telos. But his death made no sense. He died because people did not want to know Truth. Truth! Pilate was wise when he asked that other mettlesome weakling, who dared to speak that word, what exactly was truth.
Knock! Knock! Knock! Come in. Excuse me Mr. Smith, but a couple of men representing the CIA and FBI are here to see you.
Thank you Ms. Sims, send them right in. Well Telos time to drink the poison. You must understand that you were born out of due season, and as you drink remember that you are Telos Moral(es) Adam (The end of moral man).
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