05/29/2119

Today is the day. May 29th. The Earth Unity Solidarity and Togetherness Day, or what people have slowly started referring to as EUST with a silent “E”. Off in the distance I hear fireworks before I see them. My eyes are open but they are focused on the sky. They always are. I like to imagine that one day I will get to see the other planets, meet the people who live upon them, and carry on as if I actually belonged. Logan interjects with information about the fireworks. He tells me that they are part of the EUST day celebration. I roll my eyes but nevertheless keep them focused skyward. Yes I know what they are for, I say somewhat condescendingly. There’s been no talk of anything else for the last month. EUST is an annual celebration that is meant to be shared by all members of the human race, despite their planet of origin. The point of it I suppose is to join all the people together, regardless of their planetal affiliations, in one big day of huge festivities that aim to inspire a kind of camaraderie between and among the human race. I think it’s ridiculous and propagandized but I’m essentially alone in that belief.

Most of the people I’ve come across were born here and will die here and have no possible chance of seeing any of the other planets. And I assume for the most part that holds true for the others as well. There are just not many people who have the means and ability to travel in that way, an unfortunate sign of our times. So accordingly and unsurprisingly, it’s extremely rare to meet a person here who comes from another planet. In my life, I have only ever met two, and one of those was my mother.

Yes, I am an established half-breed but I keep that close to my chest. Some of my friends do know the truth but I am by no means announcing it to the world. People tend to judge you unconsciously and look at you somewhat differently when they find out that half of your DNA comes from another planet. But I don’t consider myself at a disadvantage. Quite the contrary, I can at times display an air of superiority, convincing myself that I’m actually better than all the ones who allege a pure and untainted bloodline. But as much as I may silently deem myself something of a novelty, my family history is far from glamorous or interesting. The capacity for legend is simply not there and I could never proclaim otherwise. It’s an unremarkable story, unique only in a simplistic, two dimensional kind of way.

I know from offered statements and overheard comments that most of the people in this city love the EUST holiday with an inordinate amount of enthusiasm. I really don’t believe that degree of excitement is actually warranted. But it is what it is. Unfortunately for me, Logan is one of those people who look forward to this day like a child in the twenty-first century might have anticipated Christmas morning. It angers me a little that Logan celebrates this day without question or regard for what it truly has become. But he has unapologetically declared it one of his favorite holidays of the year and there’s really no way of unconvincing him. Again, it is what it is. But that doesn’t mean I can’t find it odd and inexplicable and worthy of unrelenting denigration. With Logan though I sort of get the impression his keenness for the holiday has been born out of the firework tradition. For that I cannot completely fault him. The fireworks can be a very cool eye and ear show and one that even I have, on numerous occasions, indulged like the rest of the celebrating fools.

Still in my humble and oftentimes vocal opinion, there is absolutely no need and very little value for this stupid unity holiday. It’s an unnecessary cause for celebration in a society replete with plenty of other pointless holidays and related occasions for our trained minds to consider special and extraordinary. I tolerate most of those because their reprehensibility is not quite at a level as high or unreasonable as this EUST holiday. I think the main reason I despise this day so emphatically and zealously is because it is, in my opinion, completely and utterly hypocritical. Unity and togetherness implies something that is unbroken; it in no way describes the Earth, which hasn’t been whole for millions and millions of years now. Besides the hypocrisy, we shouldn’t be celebrating the shattering of Earth anyway. By all accounts it was not an event that evoked jubilation. Instead, we should be mourning its loss as a planet big enough and vast enough to still hold the promise of unexplored territories and incredible discoveries for the life forms that now inhabit it, myself included. Unfortunately, this particular planet that I have been so cruelly relegated to holds nothing more to discover than land that has already been significantly and repeatedly infiltrated.

Cheers!