When the hermit is lonely, as it is human nature to be from time to
time, he is hopeless without Civilization. When he is diseased or
injured, he is doomed to die pained and alone. He has an idea, but not a
very good one. Even you, Rivaidan, depend on your community and your
friends to help you along. Even you depend on Civilization to live.
Civilization is far from callous or cold-hearted, as a community cannot
take place without warmth and respect. Civilization denounces only that
which lowers the quality of men's lives, among this the foolish notion
that someone as absolutely and thoroughly dependant on Civilization as
you, Rivaidan, have anything to gain by standing in its way.
Far from forgetting history, it is impossible to remember it without
Civilization. Passing stories from one generation to the next is an act
of community and Civilization. It is nature that leaves history
forgotten as soon as the flesh has decayed. Civilization is everything
men pass to each other, so if Civilization is brainwashing, then the
same must be said of everything you taught your children, and everything
you've shared with your friends. But even though you wish to be my
enemy, I will give you more Courtesy than that: It is not brainwashing-
it is simply the free exchange of ideas, and a very healthy and natural
process. Indeed Civilization is the greatest of gifts given to mortals,
because it is the encorporation of all of the good man accomplishes,
even among those who, like you, try to oppose it. You are right, it
would be a disaster if man were to truly harm the natural world. It
would accomplish nothing to allow the very foundations of our lives to
be destroyed. Civilization would never permit senseless destruction of
the kind you accuse us of, and that is exactly because you are a part of
Civilization, and we encorporate the good that can be found in your
misguided reasoning.
Once again, I welcome any who would like to discuss this more to address
me personally. As I have said, the sharing of ideas is one of the
primary duties of Civilization.
Penned by my hand on the 19th of Ultio, in the year 483 AD.
