[TM] 264 - William Faulkner quote
The past is never dead. It's not even past.
Immortality is a funny thing when you think about it. It strips you of a lot of humanity, no matter how you come by it. Obviously, if you’re undead it’s pretty clear how, but in the long run it’s not so much a racial issue.
When you get set up to live forever, you become a living witness to history. You see the rise and fall of great men, shlubs, heroes and losers. You see evolution, revolution, you see time pass in a way you can’t when your life is finite, when your own time is limited.
And here’s the kicker: through it all? Your life goes on. That’s something a lot of kids don’t think about when they moon over the drama and romanticism of being a vampire. The past is your past, and it stalks you at every turn. You see your life in the fabric of civilization, a thing that’s hard to escape unless you plan to go native.
Immortality makes you a constant through the ages, as steadfast and unchanging as the buildings and wonders Mankind erects in testament to their own greatness. You’re a surviving memory, a legend, a monolith that will still be here long after your friends and lovers are dead…long after your own bloodline dwindles and dies out.
When you outlive your own family name, you cease to be a person, a soul…you become a memorial in flesh. Your demons, your failures…they become a part of the world’s history and the human condition.
Death’s the only way to escape the past…and if you can’t die, you can’t escape it. You can’t even put it behind you. I know it sounds a little maudlin, but it’s true.
And I’m gonna end it right there before I give myself philosophical heartburn for the rest of the damn day.
Muse: Artie Jackson
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 304
Immortality is a funny thing when you think about it. It strips you of a lot of humanity, no matter how you come by it. Obviously, if you’re undead it’s pretty clear how, but in the long run it’s not so much a racial issue.
When you get set up to live forever, you become a living witness to history. You see the rise and fall of great men, shlubs, heroes and losers. You see evolution, revolution, you see time pass in a way you can’t when your life is finite, when your own time is limited.
And here’s the kicker: through it all? Your life goes on. That’s something a lot of kids don’t think about when they moon over the drama and romanticism of being a vampire. The past is your past, and it stalks you at every turn. You see your life in the fabric of civilization, a thing that’s hard to escape unless you plan to go native.
Immortality makes you a constant through the ages, as steadfast and unchanging as the buildings and wonders Mankind erects in testament to their own greatness. You’re a surviving memory, a legend, a monolith that will still be here long after your friends and lovers are dead…long after your own bloodline dwindles and dies out.
When you outlive your own family name, you cease to be a person, a soul…you become a memorial in flesh. Your demons, your failures…they become a part of the world’s history and the human condition.
Death’s the only way to escape the past…and if you can’t die, you can’t escape it. You can’t even put it behind you. I know it sounds a little maudlin, but it’s true.
And I’m gonna end it right there before I give myself philosophical heartburn for the rest of the damn day.
Muse: Artie Jackson
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 304