#bsaawmine

The story, as it was recounted to me, is that Avery was the first Englishman to find the island. The Spanish had been using it to conduct illicit transactions for decades. Avery plans to lie in wait for them. He and his crew of 44 arrive and sail inland. But as they move up the inlet, they see something most unexpected. She was Spanish, but not one of the ships they'd been hunting. This ship had been there far longer than that. Captain's log identifies her having set sail from Havana in 1636. 31 souls aboard. Avery finds the remains of all 31. Slaughtered. Brutally so [...] Avery claimed to have seen the log. It said that the crew had refused to go inland to forage for food or for fresh water. That the first men in had returned, reporting sounds coming from the forest. The men said it sounded to them like the voice of God warning them to stay away.

I don't. And had I that instinct, I would resist it with every inch of will I could muster.

They paint the world full of shadows and then tell their children to stay close to the light. Their light. Their reasons, their judgments. Because in the darkness, there be dragons. But it isn’t true. We can prove that it isn’t true. In the dark, there is discovery, there is possibility, there is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it.

And then I spoke and bade you cast aside your shame.

No one changes the world. Not like this. Not all at once. The world is too strong for that.

There is nothing important that does not include you.