(Here is a reading of the story if audio is more your thing)
“So, what should we put?” I asked, pen in hand, staring overwhelmed at the piece of paper.
“Maybe Christmas?” My girlfriend answered.
“What?” My other friend interjected.
“Like Christmas would be nice.”
“That strange creature came to us and bestowed on us the choice of what will survive the apocalypse tomorrow, and the first thing you think of is Christmas?!”
“Sure. It’s a start.”
“What other ideas do you have?” I intervened, as my other friend furled her brow at me. I wrote down Christmas for now.
“What are the most important things that our nation has to offer? Like democracy, our Constitution.” My friend shouted.
“But look what democracy got us now…” She quipped.
There was silence for several seconds.
“I don’t know,” he finally broached the silence. “We are bound to have some kind of legacy. Our culture must have built something great that we can bestow to future people to enjoy.”
I sat there. I thought about the incredible promise we once had: human rights, the dream that everyone would get a house, the Civil Rights movements. “We squandered everything we once had,” I finally lamented out loud. “It all turned out to be lies and false promises.”
“I know what happened, but there must be something in all that that is true and lasting, that future generations need to learn,” my friend almost begged. He so wanted this to be true.
I thought of how chaotic the last several years had been. Always, another disaster after another. A fanatical lunatic in charge. My mind hurt from thinking through all that happened. I could have survived so many mini-apocalypses, but the idea that something truly horrid befell us tomorrow only made me feel drained and depleted. Just let it be quick to get it over with.
“Maybe all we have left is our warning,” I finally concluded. “Maybe if we included the story of how we failed, others could avoid our mistakes and not become us.”
“I don’t think any future human would listen,” my girlfriend objected.
“They might,” I replied.
“We wouldn’t have listened.”
The truth of this hit me for a few seconds.
“It’s our only hope.”