Monsters

Our mental constructs are so much richer than the world we find ourselves in.  Our imaginings have created worlds and creatures that that arguably never were and, still again, may never be. Yet, It is already apparent that fiction can be a precursor to some future fact, as was so ably demonstrated by Leonardo DaVinchi and Jules Verne.  Verne foretold the submarine in a time when such a vessel was clearly an impossible construct, although he came very close to describing in great detail what would ultimately come to rule the sea.  DaVinchi imagined many great possibilities which are now hauling us around in the sky, were used as weapons of war, etc.  But the most powerful paintings of fiction are those of creatures of myth and legend such as the dragon, the wizard, and the monster of various configurations.  Which makes me wonder if the real creatures that inhabited the Earth with us were simply not terrifying enough, that man had to fashion even more incredible beasts from his imagination, such as those that inhabit the myths of the early Greeks.  The creature most famous in historical fiction is the dragon, a beast born of many distinct cultures, that breathed fire and terrified hapless villagers with it's nasty disposition till such time a heroes could be found to dispatch it to it's rightful death.  The Krakon probably was birthed from the wild and fearful imaginations of seafarers who could not process the glimpses of strange creatures such as the giant squid and the whale, who even in their terrible size and strangeness still were inflated to such capabilities as attacking and dragging down entire ships, or so the tales would tell.

     Where once we spun these tales on papyrus, parchment, and paper, we now consume our myths on televisions and big movie screens, the better to lend outrageous power to even more terrifying creatures and invaders than even the most imaginative of the ancients could conjure.  As we push our fellow animals towards extinction, we need new and more powerful enemies to be afraid of, if only in our nightmares.  Yet, I would suggest that there has always been one creature upon this Earth that has put all others to shame, one so innocent in construct, so evil in capability, that is real and genuine and is to be feared above all others, for this creature shall truly be the death of us all.  That creature has created this post and reads it upon publication; that creature being US.

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