• About
  • Home
  • Flash Fiction
  • Flash Poesy
  • Excerpt – The Child of Heaven
  • Excerpt – The Child of Passion
  • Excerpt – The Lost Child
  • Fellow Writers
  • Publications/Credits
  • Excerpt – Ripples on the Pond
  • One Million Project – Thriller Anthology
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Blog

sebnemsanders

~ ripples

sebnemsanders

Tag Archives: truth

The End and The Beginning

02 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by SebnemSanders in Flash Fiction, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

amreading, amwriting, change, civilization, differences, division, Flash Fiction, greed, human nature, knowledge, learning, lessons, mistakes, perpetual existence, repetition, tools, truth, unchanged, unity, writingcommunity

Richard Ehrlich Photography Homage to Rothko

 

Richard Ehrlich photography, from “Homage to Rothko, Malibu Series” 2012
(In collaboration with R. Mac Holbert, a series of montages composed from original Malibu sky images as an Homage to Mark Rothko)

 

I wrote this story a while ago. I submitted it without success. I think this is the right time to share it. Dismal, but true. We don’t change, do we?

 

 

The End and The Beginning

 

They said the Day of Judgement had come and the end of the world was near. Then the skies turned granite, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis devastated towns and villages for days until all the unwanted were washed away from the surface of the planet.

Waking on strange beach, I looked around and saw that everything had changed. Not a building in sight, nor any remnants of “civilization”. A vast emptiness as far as the eye could see, bordered by tree covered hills. Even the sun didn’t look familiar, an alien shade of red, casting a rosy light upon the land.

Following the sound of water gushing from an unseen source, I dragged my feet towards it until I came upon a rivulet fed by a spring. Scattered around its banks, people talked to each other while perusing me with suspicion as I approached. I bowed my head, then cupped my hands and drank water to quench my thirst.

Resting on the grass to observe the survivors, I noticed everything was different. Snow White was no longer white, but black. Rapunzel had close-cropped hair. Alice had lost her wonderland. Soldiers and pirates exchanged clothes and identities, as Sleeping Beauty walked around, eyes wide open. Lords had become peasants as peasants flaunted their elegant outfits.

“Who are you?” a young girl asked.

“No one special. I’m me.”

“How come you haven’t changed?”

“No idea. Are we on a different planet? Is this Earth or elsewhere?”

“We don’t know, yet. Nobody does. We’re gathering to decide on a plan.”

I joined the discussion about our survival and voted to move up the hills to take shelter rather than staying on the beach in case of a Tsunami. Perhaps we could find food up there and a safe haven to settle.

Scouts explored the mountains and returned with the news of a valley beyond the hills. Hunting for food with sharpened sticks, on our way, we reached the meadow at dusk. Gathered around fires lit with flint,  the head count of 500 remaining humans discussed the strategy of our survival on this strange planet.

“Back to the stone age,” one said.

“At least we have the knowledge. We can make tools, wheels, and shelters. Start farming, agriculture. Keep livestock, form a community.”

Knowledge without tools was a sad consolation, but we could always try as humans had done in the past and advanced.

Survival being our mutual cause, we worked in harmony as a leader emerged in the colony. He formed a council of advisors, and much to my surprise, included me they called Unchanged. It seemed like a privilege, but I wasn’t sure. Perhaps it meant unchangeable, inflexible, rigid. Was I so, though I tried very hard to adapt to the difficult conditions of our existence?

“A transformation,” they said. “A test for humanity to do better this time, understanding the past to build the future. At least we speak the same language and can communicate. We’re civilized without being civilized.”

I wasn’t sure about that either because I heard a wise woman and a wise man speak.

“You know what will happen at the end of this, don’t you?” she said.

He chuckled. “Politics, greed, wars, division, and devastation. The rich and the poor.”

“Progress and destruction.”

“Can’t we prevent this, having the knowledge?”

“Not unless we can stop time, but you know we can’t change human nature.”

 

I wept with the knowledge that someday this world would end, too, despite the efforts of survival and co-operation here. Perhaps, that’s why I hadn’t changed. I represented all of them, in my perpetual state of being.

 

Thank you for reading.  🙂

Advertisement

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • More
  • WhatsApp

Like this:

Like Loading...

Sanity

19 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by SebnemSanders in Flash Poesy, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

benevolence, clarity, confusion, deception, greed, humanity, insanity, lack of clarity, lies, lost, reality, sadness, sanity, trouble, truth, vice, virtue

Matrixpill

 

How to hold on to my

sanity

in the middle of

insanity

Should I ignore the

madness

despite the overwhelming

sadness

Maybe direct my thoughts to

puzzles and crosswords

instead of

the troubles and the theatre of the absurd

sensible,

calm and composed

rather than

impressionable,

vulnerable and disposed

Does that make me blind

or wise and unexposed?

 I wish to change things

but lack the power to pull the strings

Rather than sulking and arguing

I plot secret steps to alter

the course of events

despite various

counter -arguments

In the end virtue prevails

though the virtuous suffer

and expire

in the dungeons of greed and fire

who wins is a question of time

while sanity versus insanity

become partners in

crime

 

matrix media.caspianmedia.comimagedcd44a372ff811a0f0e1a4b32302bf38-217d5b1db10af881b072e2c1b119c0a7d23866a1

 

Photos from The Matrix,  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • More
  • WhatsApp

Like this:

Like Loading...

Truth

26 Friday May 2017

Posted by SebnemSanders in flash non-fiction/thoughts

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

dishonesty, distortion, fake news, false news, greed, Internet, lies, media, politicians, post truth, power, truth, untruth

truth climate

The new term post-truth has been disturbing my mind, lately. Post-truth, or past truth, passed truth, if there are such notions. Does truth have a past, present or a future tense? Does it expire? Or does it evolve, mutate or degenerate?

I would have thought there is only one truth, as written and proven in books. I don’t mean religious ones as they’re subject to interpretation. I’m referring to recorded data, evidence and observations. Proven statements, witness accounts, audio-visual recordings.

Post means after or later than. Like post-impressionism. It’s impressionism with a difference. So, post-truth must be truth with a difference. A new truth, an evolved one with further evidence, or one disguised with fabricated facts?

The opposite of truth is dishonesty. If I’m being dishonest, I’m probably lying, denying the truth, making excuses, giving and producing false evidence. So I’m hiding the truth, camouflaging it, transforming it into a monster like Frankenstein, creating a fantasy, an untruth.

I stand proudly behind my untruth, promote it through my followers who go along with me blindly because they feel safe under my leadership. My lie has no limits. It becomes my way of life. I conjure it in such detail and with such passion that it becomes my truth. My only truth. Everyone begins to doubt the previous version. The truth of the past becomes the lie of the present, perhaps of the future, too, if I organize my teams, supporters and heirs.

Post-truth, this is what I see all over the world. Passed around by politicians, bankers and all those in power, through the generous Internet networks and the media, we’re being fed small morsels of it every single day. It’s a slow poison, but the effects are deadly.

truthlies

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • More
  • WhatsApp

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • A Gift to Remember, a Christmas Story
  • My Flash Fiction Story, Elsewhere, is at the Ekphrastic Review
  • My Flash Fiction Story, Désirée, is at the Subject and Verb Agreement Press Blog Spot
  • My flash fiction story, Interstellar, is at the Ekphrastic Review
  • My Story, The Stranger, is published in Pure Slush’s Appointment at 10.30 Anthology

Recent Comments

SebnemSanders on A Gift to Remember, a Christma…
Fran Macilvey on A Gift to Remember, a Christma…
SebnemSanders on My Flash Fiction Story, Désiré…
Richard Ankers on My Flash Fiction Story, Désiré…
SebnemSanders on My Flash Fiction Story, Désiré…

Archives

  • December 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015

Categories

  • blog post
  • Book Excerpts
  • Books
  • Corona Chronicles
  • Fellow Writers
  • Fiction
  • Flash Fiction
  • flash non-fiction/thoughts
  • Flash Poesy
  • Inspired by a True Life Story
  • Interview
  • Memoir
  • micro-fiction
  • My Reviews
  • Newsfeed
  • non-fiction
  • poetry
  • publications
  • Reviews
  • Short Story
  • The Child of Heaven
  • True Story
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • A Gift to Remember, a Christmas Story
  • My Flash Fiction Story, Elsewhere, is at the Ekphrastic Review
  • My Flash Fiction Story, Désirée, is at the Subject and Verb Agreement Press Blog Spot
  • My flash fiction story, Interstellar, is at the Ekphrastic Review
  • My Story, The Stranger, is published in Pure Slush’s Appointment at 10.30 Anthology

Recent Comments

SebnemSanders on A Gift to Remember, a Christma…
Fran Macilvey on A Gift to Remember, a Christma…
SebnemSanders on My Flash Fiction Story, Désiré…
Richard Ankers on My Flash Fiction Story, Désiré…
SebnemSanders on My Flash Fiction Story, Désiré…

Archives

  • December 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015

Categories

  • blog post
  • Book Excerpts
  • Books
  • Corona Chronicles
  • Fellow Writers
  • Fiction
  • Flash Fiction
  • flash non-fiction/thoughts
  • Flash Poesy
  • Inspired by a True Life Story
  • Interview
  • Memoir
  • micro-fiction
  • My Reviews
  • Newsfeed
  • non-fiction
  • poetry
  • publications
  • Reviews
  • Short Story
  • The Child of Heaven
  • True Story
  • Uncategorized

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • sebnemsanders
    • Join 210 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • sebnemsanders
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.

    %d bloggers like this: