i know i have never once posted about phm on this blog but this post forcefully burrowed its way out from my fingers and i had to put it somewhere.
imagine humanity from an eridian perspective in which erid is a paradise, a kind planet of kinder people.
these aliens are fragile. they have no shell, no armor, like a prey animal laid bare. they can 'forget' the things they learn and know, they lose parts of themselves with time, time that their short lifespans don't allow for anyway. the harsh environment they live in kills an eridian quickly, but our own environment kills a human almost instantly. their greatest strength is stamina; slowly recovering from any blow that is not deadly, continuing to move and work without being tired. their best and only defense is allowing the blows to land and bearing the pain.
they are a delicate spark. surely, the world they come from is a cradle, a kinder one than ours, a soft world of comfort made to shelter these beings.
earth is a planet where being born with the wrong shape, or the wrong light-texture, or with the wrong mind, can have you beaten or killed or worse. earth is a world where you will be battered until broken for the crime of needing to breathe and think. earth is a world where those who cannot work to buy food will starve, and those around them will lament their laziness and not their tragedy. earth is a world that sent its savior to die, and forced him to forget what they did so he would not go insane.
human bodies are fragile because they are shattered every day since the moment they are born and cannot fix themselves fast enough. human minds are fragile because they need to forget what happens to them, or their minds may break under the stress of what they go through. human eyes leak when they are sad because there is nowhere for the sadness to go but out. it all has to leave, it has to be thrown away constantly, or the human will be crushed underneath the weight of it.
a human can die from misery. just the emotion alone is enough to stop their single, beautiful heart. and earth makes them drown in it. sink or swim, as the humans say, we will not save you if you cannot breathe.
and now a human is here, on erid, and he is asking if he can stay. just for a little while, he says, until he can return home. just for a little while, says the delicate spark, a moment to you and a lifetime to me, i will stay here. i will teach your children, many of whom are older than me, because every second of my time must be spent before my life is gone. i will learn your ways, again and again, until my mind is able to hold on to whatever it can. i will manage your world, the strain of the gravity on my muscles and bones, and try to stand as if i am not suffering, as humans always do.
and then i will go back to earth, to drown and die. i will let you all be, and the time will pass faster than you know. so please, if you could give me a home, any will do, i would like that very much.
would you not give him everything?
