A long embrace
Allow me, for a moment, to reflect back on why we are here, and on the purpose of this entire discourse; for we have not gathered merely to wax philosophic on the nature of mortality, though that is a crucial element of the present drama. Nor have we come together to simply evaluate ourselves and our places on this swiftly tilting planet. No, my entire premise and the fulcrum of my argument is that these very distinct issues, considered by some among us as entirely unrelated are, in fact, the pinnacle, the climax of a great quest that has been passed though millennia - a quest joined by both our kind and theirs, and a journey that can only be completed together.
Some of the elders governing this clandestine council have watched moons rise for centuries, while others have been asleep just as long, awakened for this historic event. You will find, old friends, that the world has changed both immensely, and not at all. You will find too, that there are younger kindred here, having only tasted the embrace. And while they have neither knowledge, wisdom, or respect, they carry something lost long ago by our kind - passion.
I am certainly aware of the very human attributes I am so presumptuously casting upon our kind, but I too have slept. I have gone down into darkness forsaking dreams and feasts - even the night sky. In my waking I have seen the future, and it is here, among us, and into that brave new world we must not fear to boldly tread. For if we surrender to caution, if we choose isolation and ignorance, if we knowingly chain ourselves to the damnation of eternal disengagement...then we let go all of the promise that has brought us to this tectonic moment. We forsake all of the potential that has been forged in the fires of our destiny. Listen to me well brothers, for if we do not seize this moment, it may never be offered us again, and we will...very truly...be damned.
Some of the elders governing this clandestine council have watched moons rise for centuries, while others have been asleep just as long, awakened for this historic event. You will find, old friends, that the world has changed both immensely, and not at all. You will find too, that there are younger kindred here, having only tasted the embrace. And while they have neither knowledge, wisdom, or respect, they carry something lost long ago by our kind - passion.
I am certainly aware of the very human attributes I am so presumptuously casting upon our kind, but I too have slept. I have gone down into darkness forsaking dreams and feasts - even the night sky. In my waking I have seen the future, and it is here, among us, and into that brave new world we must not fear to boldly tread. For if we surrender to caution, if we choose isolation and ignorance, if we knowingly chain ourselves to the damnation of eternal disengagement...then we let go all of the promise that has brought us to this tectonic moment. We forsake all of the potential that has been forged in the fires of our destiny. Listen to me well brothers, for if we do not seize this moment, it may never be offered us again, and we will...very truly...be damned.
