The+Peaceful+War

= = =The Peaceful War=

It was a beautiful clear day and Nadema Argleheim had just finished her final exam, and with an unsure look, she handed it to her incessantly smiling hologram of a teacher. It was a large test over the martyrs in history. She had always had a deep respect for them that no one else seemed to share with her. As she sat back in her chair to try to relieve her anxiety, she kept her mind off the test with other thoughts. After wandering over many different subjects, it spontaneously halted on the topic of censorship.

Although Nadema knew that before when freedom of speech and action were present the world was a hateful and violent place, she had never felt entirely comfortable with all the restrictions on speech and actions. She wondered if the government really needed to go to such extremes for peace. Couldn’t they have loser rules with the same outcome? She also wondered what the world was like before the revolution. Before there was only one government. Before the death of conflict. She simply could not imagine that a whole race of people was almost knocked out before anyone tried to stop it. She often thought stories like these were told only to scare people into keeping their actions and words peaceful. For many reasons Nadema always believed that, the governments spying and intrusive ways of preventing war were sure to backfire.

When Nadema arrived home that evening dinner was prepared and on the table waiting to be eaten. She decided to break the normal routine and try to make conversation with her parents at dinner. As she racked her brain for topics to discuss, she flashed back to earlier after her test. Without a second thought she blurted, “Do you think it’s unhealthy to always speak and act peacefully. I mean, to never express your true feelings?” The shocked expressions that splattered across her parent’s faces showed that her lack of consideration in choosing the topic had not gone well. “Why would you think that? The government only makes their laws because they have seen the problems that arise when they don’t exist.” Gasped her mother. “Nadema, I would advise you not to go around sharing your irrational questions. I agree with your mother, the government does the things they do because it is what is best. I would accept that and stop questioning them before you get yourself into trouble.” Said her father while lowering his voice towards the last sentence.

Later that evening as Nadema was getting ready to go to bed her mind crossed the discussion at dinner again. She thought about how unfair it was to never be allowed to speak her mind and show her emotions. She wondered what type of trouble her dad was referring to at dinner. She was wondering just how bad it would be to find out. As she crawled into bed, she was beginning to feel angry and for the first time in her life she let the anger fester instead of trying to stop it and shoving it back down.

It was the summer after Nadema’s graduation from college. She had reached her goal of getting a master’s degree in government. Although she had never wanted to work in politics, she knew exactly how her degree would help her. After her final day of high school when she had discussed the government’s power with her parents at dinner, she had never let go of her idea that the government was not right in censoring what people said and did. After several months of defiantly letting her anger fester and not pushing it down, she knew what she wanted to do; start a revolution to get back the human race’s freedom of speech. She knew it was crazy, and she knew it was impossible. She was going to do it anyway.

Following her plan exactly, she rose to a high up position in the political ladder at a rapid pace. She made sure people knew her name and began to trust her. She tried to get plenty of positive publicity and earn the trust of the people. To them, she seemed to be doing all the perfectly normal things a normal candidate might do in order to rise into a higher position and attain more power. This was not the goal of Nadema. She had entirely different motives for her campaign. She wanted to start a revolution among the people and overthrow the government. Although she did not know how long it would be until when she would have the right time and place to begin this, she knew nothing could stop her from getting there.

Several years later at a major, worldwide press conference that was run entirely by Nadema she realized this was her time and place to begin what she had waited many years to do. An unexpected wave of nerves washed over her, but she dried them off before they could phase her courage. As she took the stand, she handled the crowd, as any other leader of a rally would do. The difference was that after her many years of gaining the trust of these people, she had it and she knew how to use it. As more and more of the crowd began to rally with her, she could hear the shouts of people releasing anger they had been building up all their lives. She knew these people would be willing to fight behind her and would be willing to carry out what she could not. [] Nadema was brave but she knew what was coming. Secret agents standing nearby to protect her were now sent it to stop her from creating more chaos than she already had. She was immediately taken to a high security prison with no windows, a small bed, and an ancient television. She knew there was going to be plenty of hype over what she had done. She flipped through each news channel, one by one. The first was a rally against the government. The next, another rather, more violent than the first and on another side of the world. After this was a replay of her speech, then another. After a few more rallies and speculations made by experts, she knew she had accomplished what she had always dreamed of. She also knew the consequence of these dreams she always had. Nadema knew she was going to die for her cause. She would be a martyr and all along, it seemed like she had known that would be her way to die. As two burley guards came to retrieve her from her cell, she did not make a sound because she knew where she was going. As she walked with them down the long, dimly lit hall, she could hear a television announcer frantically talking about the 360-degree turn the planet has taken. Although she had watched about a hundred experts and announcers say it, this last one hit hardest as the man’s low voice barely reached her ears, “This one speech has changed our world forever, Nadema Argleheim has started an official revolution,”

This story has a futuristic setting of sometime far into the future when everyone can't deal with anymore war. It has the role of science and technology with the holographic teacher, which also shows that it is not set in the present. It has social commentary by saying that although a lot of people want world peace and no more anger or genocide, there could be a downside to this. This type of message is shown is this dystopia I created. The elements of realism are that a single person actually could start a revolution, there's a possibility that one government could rule the entire world in the future, and it is true today in some places that if someone is trying to take down the government the government will just kill them. There is an allusion to the holocaust in this story. It is when Nadema wonders how a government could almost let an entire race die. This is what nearly happened in the holocaust. Also there is irony use. This is put into use because at the beginning Nadema has a great deal of respect for martyrs but in the end, becomes one herself.