A Haunting tale

Yesterday's Sunday Times carried an article by David Brook of the New York Times. In it he discussed a short story entitled The Ones Who Walk Away from Omela written by Ursula Le Guin. In the story an Utopian like beautiful and peaceful city called Omela was inhabited by happy people. A typical festival day with delicious beer and horse races would find an old lady laughing whilst handing out flowers to passers by. Tall men wear them in their shiny hair. Delightful music fills the air from a young child playing a flute. All's idyllic and magical except for one young child who was locked up in a small dark room in the basement of a building, abandoned, ill fed and undernourished sitting on her own excrement. Weak in mind and body, the child cried out to be let out promising to be good. However such was the contract that the people of Omela had entered that for the well being of all that child alone must take all the miseries. Some people came to take a look whilst others just knew of her existence. They knew that freeing her will cause the utopia to collapse destroying the city's idyllic state, the tender relationship amongst people and their children's' good health.However they are also people who can not live under such a social contract and choose to walk away from Omela into the mountains.

David Brooks discussed 3 interpretations. One about exploitation in societies, another about the utilitarian mindset and a third about the psychological make up within oneself.

-Many of us are aware of the exploitation behind the cheap consumer products and the comforts we enjoy in our life.

-The utilitarian concept justifies the miseries of some for the benefits for most, ie. tradeoffs for the greater good.

-Within our psychological self, the trappings of modern life have numbed us to abandon our idealism and left it to shrink like the child in the basement.

A very haunting story indeed. I picture myself as a citizen of Omela taking a look into the dark room where the helpless child is pleading for help. My heart will cringe but I also know that outside the sun shines brightly on a sea of happy faces.

Henceforth ???