The Fallen Hero

Trevor hurried through the granite halls, agitated by what he had learnt. Aisles of books passed him by and seemed only a blur to him. He knew that, at this very instant, there was only a single person in the entire city who could calm his conscience.

The entire structure was so silent, one would think not even the ghosts of old would inhabit it. But Trevor knew that the library was never empty because the man he was looking for had been its librarian for a long, tiring eighty years. People in the city used to consider him a part of the library much like the bricks and glass that made it up not just because he had lasted in there for so long but also because he himself was a veritable mine of information, not unlike a heavy set book one would always avoid reading. John Hawk was the oldest person in the city, running at a good 110 and still looking hopeful.

Trevor quickly flitted through different passageways of the massive Victorian structure. He knew his destination. John Hawk was like a glacier. He rarely changed his position in the library. And when he did move, it was never more than an aisle or two. As Trevor neared the section of Ancient History, he could hear the ruffle of pages being leafed through. Sure enough, John Hawk sat there turning pages, apparently looking for events that happened much before him, which seemed ludicrous since he seemed to be a millennium old, had it not been for his shining personality and a glittering smile composed of some scattered teeth. Trevor went and stood before the stooped structure delving so deep into the book, his nose was at a hair’s width from the yellowed pages. John looked up to see what was obstructing the only source of light in that aisle. All he could really see was a dark shape, but he knew there was only one soul in the city who would visit him at this time.

“Hah! Trevor my boy!” said John in a meek yet cheerful voice. Trevor forced a smile and shook John’s trembling, outstretched hand. He pulled the flimsy chair opposite John and sat down. John shut his enormous book and pulled off his glasses.

“It’s been an eternity since we met! Where have you been all this time?” asked John.

“I’ve been busy John, what with all the research trips and the presentation schedules. Say, do you remember the field of my research?” said Trevor, his smile slowly fading.

“Jolly well I do! Wasn’t it about Historical Veracity and Timeline Completion? You must have spent weeks here researching for each and every event listed in this library. Now that I think of it, wasn’t this aisle your favorite spot?” replied John looking around the library, beaming as if it was his child who helped his friend.

For a fleeting moment, the smile popped back on Trevor’s face. This really was his favorite aisle. It contained some of the most interesting historical moments and he never tired reading about them, right from the birth of human civilizations to the advent of the era of god ending in the era of wars. And then that thing, that event happened. The smile died out.

“Right on both account John. And I needed to talk to you about something relevant to that. Something, that I feel, nobody talks about. Nobody notices it, and those who do, simply ignore it. John, what do you know about the Forbidden Decade?” Trevor asked as his face turned into a grave mannequin.

John’s face went grim as he looked at Trevor for a while. He had sensed this coming. It had been a long time since he had talked to anyone about this. The Forbidden Decade, as the name implied, was a forbidden topic. Only a small percentage of the population knew the real story. For the rest of the people, it was nothing more than an urban legend. As for him, it was his father who had told him the story. Maybe it was time to pass down the story.

“Very well, Trevor. I shall tell you anything you ask, but only on two conditions. Firstly, you will not share this story with anyone. And secondly, when time comes, you will share this story with someone you can trust, just like I am sharing it with you”, said John.

“Fair enough”, Trevor replied calmly.

A few moments passed as John collected his thoughts.

The year was 2049. It had been only months since the third and the last World War had ended. The people of the world now had a firm belief that they had survived the last world war. The peace that had grown out of the silence after the war had been unimaginable before the war. Each and every country now knew that war was an extinct concept for settling issues. The war had been disturbing, not by the damage it had brought upon the entire world. No, the damage was substantially less than the Second World War. It was rather a philosophical upheaval. The war had changed the values of borders, divisions and the identities of people and religions alike. There were no communal clashes, no post-war riots and absolutely no arguments amongst the nations. Peace like this hadn’t existed for centuries.

From the remains of the war, a new leader arose. It wasn’t really a big surprise. It was the same man who had made both the sides look at some sense. Charlie Crane was the new idol for the people for the world, very much like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. But what you need to understand is that this was no ordinary leader. He was the first leader who had no one opposing him. He had united the entire globe into one entity. He became the de facto president of the world. All national leaders consulted him and all settlements were through him.

Crane solved many problems within a matter of months. Cooperation and coordination between countries at such large scale was unprecedented. Trade flow was the smoothest it had ever been. Borders were no longer zones of never-ending wars. Lack of resources became a problem of the past within 2 years. Each country analyzed which resource it possessed in surplus and shared it with deficient countries at subsidized rates. Clean energy projects neared completion with joint government efforts. The UN was dispersed as it now seemed obsolete. The world did not require any authority over it to keep them at peace. Crane had mesmerizing effect on people. It didn’t matter to them as to which religion, race, country or caste he belonged or what language he spoke. To them, he was a near-equivalent to their God. Crane had people following him blindly.

It was in 2054 that things started looking wrong. Initially, it was the rise in the prices of gas and coal. Crane’s policies had always kept those prices in check. But, in a matter of weeks, the prices rocketed to unimaginable heights. People started getting a bit uneasy. Crane came forward to explain that they no longer needed the gas and coal. Their clean energy projects were now finally complete. Fossil fuels were now an historical artifact. So the hikes in prices were but a temporary discomfort. Soon, other commodities started getting expensive. Countries started raising their trade taxes in a desperate attempt to stabilize their economy. Sharing of resources was no longer easy. Crane’s urgings were the only things which were keeping the world in order. Soon, food riots and clashes started popping up all over the globe. The world was regressing to a lifestyle before the war. The strings that Crane had been keeping tied up together for five years now, were slowly snapping. With an increase in the smuggling of resources, border tensions crept up again. With no other aspect to blame, religion and faiths were once again brought into the arena.

Crane realized that this needed to be fixed up soon. He studied the global economics of last 5 years and came up with a single result. Crane died a few days later.

Crane’s death was a global catastrophe. The entire planet mourned his death. But what shocked everyone tremendously was the fact that Crane had committed suicide. His suicide letter was released to the public.

“My death is consequence of my own actions. I believe I have committed crimes worthy of something much greater than death. Because in my attempts to lead this world to a greater path, I have inadvertently pushed it into its infernal past where people fight for survival rather than share for survival. In my attempts to increase coordination among countries, I boosted up the consumption of the world. This lead to a rapid decrease in the resources which then lead to deficiencies.

I now realize that this planet deserves something much subtle than plain coordination. I now realize that the problem, ever since the dawn of humanity, has been in leadership. I do no say that you need a better leader. On the contrary, I ask you to shed the concepts of leadership. You do not require a single human being to direct your entire life. Greatness lies not in the person, but what he believes in. We have gods, idols, heroes. And when we have these champions in multiple, we have factions. There is then created a difference of opinion. But what is most surprising is that if you select any two members from each faction and pit them against each other, they are not polar opposites in their opinions. It is the moment of unity, when they merge into their factions, that the small similarities in opinions drown to the depths of those loud arguments. Without leaders, there is but little to hold those factions together. I now make a request to the entire world. Shun your leaders. Do not support your leaders. Handing over the responsibility of a city, or a state or an entire country to a single person is wrong. Doing it on the basis of his ideals, even more so. Realize the difference between leaders of administration and leaders of change. Goodbye.”

“Soon after his death”, John continued solemnly, “people realized what Crane meant to say. This was their final commandment. It took some time for this message to spread. It was then that this major undertaking took place. It was realized that everything related to Crane and his life had to be removed for the sake of his request. It may seem ridiculous to you now, but understand what Crane’s request stood for. If people were to accept it, they needed to make sure that, in the future, no one could say they were only following a tradition set forth by another god or leader. Also realize the fact that people were ready to shun their gods. Religion was about to become a relic of old. A revolution of this kind had never happened before in the history of human being. It was a human venture in its literal sense.”

John sat silent for a minute looking at the sun through the window. Trevor mulled over things in his mind trying to understand Crane and his philosophy.

John spoke again. “All records for those 5 years and the 5 years after Crane’s death were destroyed. Texts were changed to ignore the ten years as uneventful. It wasn’t easy. It almost took them half a century to mold Crane into an urban myth. At this point of time, only a dozen people know the entire story of Charlie Crane. And it is vital that his story be remembered because there will come a time in future when people will feel terrible despair and hopelessness. At that time, they will look for a source of inspiration, a leader. When that happens, this story will resurface as a beacon of hope. Because if you can really grasp how hard it is to leave your god, nothing else might seem more difficult. There is only one thing that this story attempts to ask, Trevor. When time comes, would you be able to let go of your idol? Would you have the strength, not just for accepting the right in whatever is opposing your idol, but also to recognize the flaws in your hero? Would you be able to comprehend the fact that your hero is what he did and not who he is? The hero, the idol, the god — they all lie in the things you do. Your god is not a god without the things he or she did. Religion is not about the god. It’s about the good that the god did. Fandoms are never about the author. It’s about the stories he or she weaves. The Forbidden Decade is a lost story. And it should remain that way. Isn’t it strange, that of all the great hurdles humanity has crossed in its lifetime, the greatest is the one it is not allowed to remember?”

John smiled. Trevor got up, shook John’s hand and left quietly from the solemn palace of stories where one story would forever be hidden.