music: Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
reading: Strictly Television - Nate Logan

a thousand little lemmings ran off to the sea in a swarm, a gaggle, a group.
they were, for the most part, excited, some indifferent, some fearing their actual death too slow.

one finally asked another shortly before the cliffs: 'is it worth it?
the pain, the loss, the sadness or joy -
but has anyone never jumped?'

the second lemming replied,
'this is simply what we do.
there is no rhyme nor reason,
there is no thought,
and our individuality lies in how we jump the cliff -
some dive in freedom and immense joy,
some walk in a quiet dignity,
some leap with fear and grief.
in the end, we all fall.'

the first lemming,
completely unsatisfied,
spent the next few moments in deep thought. quietly, he stood aside while the others fell,
no rhyme nor reason,
some diving, some walking,
some leaping with grief.

he stood there for months and months.
he watched group after group fall,
with no rhyme nor reason,
some diving, some walking,
some leaping with grief.

years later, another small lemming found him there. another who had decided not to fall.
he asked the older lemming if his years on the edge of the great cliffs had taught him anything useful.

the older lemming said now,

'I have seen a thousand beautiful sunsets in an empty sky, I have felt the rain on every pore of my being, I have felt the inspiration of moonbeams flowing down onto me, and I have watched the little shoots and leaves around me grow, their green sprouts tender and delicious for me to chew.

I have seen the sky and the wind and the rain, I have felt the great Earth move from beneath my very feet.'

the younger lemming was impressed and pressed the elder for more, soon becoming more starstruck and rebellious himself.

but the older lemming brushed him away. he said with finality and a heavy heart,

'and yet, with all this beauty, I have not been able to convey it to all of the rest - I watched them die for less than all that I have seen to live for. they know not what it is like to regret their decisions, to make a mistake - in the end, they all fall.'

and with finality and a heavy heart, he leapt from the cliffs with grief.