The Great Building is a modern fable looking at the implications of the terrorist attacks on America.
There was once a Great Nation, the greatest nation on the face of a fruitful and beautiful planet. This Great Nation was founded on the principles of freedom and democracy. It was said that any child born in the Great Nation could one day grow up to be president of the nation, such were the opportunities that existed for all of the Great Nation's citizens.
The Great Nation was the beacon of hope and freedom for the entire planet. Citizens from around the world tried desperately to emigrate to the Great Nation, where jobs were plentiful and hope was abundant.
The Great Nation was deeply spiritual, and the very foundation of the country was built upon each citizen's right to worship as he or she saw fit. The words "In God We Trust" appeared on every coin and every piece of paper currency in the Great Nation, and, indeed, God had smiled down upon the nation. Its fields were lush with food and its waters were crowded with fish. Its mountains were majestic and its air was clean and pure.
Over time, the Great Nation's plentiful natural resources, combined with the energy and spirit of its people, enabled the Great Nation to become the richest nation on the planet. It was a nation of plenty, where no one need go hungry and no one need go unclothed. Education was provided free of charge for the children of the Great Nation, so that each generation could learn more and use that knowledge to advance the great society.
The educated citizens of the Great Nation invented new ways to travel from place to place and new machines to perform tedious chores. The Great Nation invented devices that turned night into day and other devices that enabled citizens to communicate with each other from thousands of miles away. So rich were its people, that the Great Nation invented new ways for the people to be entertained and built entire cities for the sole purpose of providing amusement for its citizens.
The Great Nation was called the 'breadbasket of the world." So much food was raised by the Great Nation's farmers that every person on the entire planet could have been fed, although much of the food was kept safely in the Great Nation's storehouses and was used to feed animals.
The Great Nation's stores were stocked with everything that could conceivably be bought or sold. The people of the Great Nation had everything they could ever want.
Yet some people in the Great Nation were not satisfied. They wanted more. As the Great People of the Great Nation, they began to believe that they deserved more. They were not content within the boundaries of their own country. So, using the power of their currency, they began to buy land and natural resources in other nations. Using the power of their military they conquered countries that were enemies of the Great Nation. The riches and resources of these far-away lands were shipped back to the Great Nation, making its people even wealthier than before.
The people of the Great Nation decided to build a monument to their own greatness. So in the Greatest City of the Great Nation, the people built the tallest building in the world. It was called the Great Building, and it stood proudly at the entrance of the Greatest City in the Great Nation.
Whenever the people of the Great Nation saw the Great Building, they were filled with pride. The people of the Great Nation were so proud of themselves and their achievements that they didn't notice that the Great Building cast a Great Shadow on the land that covered many other countries. The Great Shadow completely blocked out the sun in some of these nations, and food would not grow there. Many people around the planet went hungry, even as they knew that the citizens of the Great Nation grew obese from overeating. Each day, when the hungry people of the world were covered by the shadow of the Great Building, they grew to hate the people of the Great Nation a little bit more.
But the people of the Great Nation did not know this. And even if they had, they were so full of pride and so certain of the greatness of their Great Nation that it would not have mattered. For how could anyone not love the Great Building in the Greatest City in the Great Nation?
One day, in the twinkling of an eye, the enemies of the Great Nation destroyed the Great Building.
The people of the Great Nation cried out, "Why did you destroy our Great Building? Why do you hate us?" And the people of the Great Nation were outraged when they saw that others, who could now see the sun that had been blocked by the Great Shadow of the Great Building, were now celebrating.
The people of the Great Nation tore at their clothes and sobbed, "We must destroy the evil people who destroyed our Great Building."
The leaders of the Great Nation made speeches and prepared for war. Meanwhile, the Great Nation's people consoled each other and treated each other's wounds. Kind words were spoken amongst them, even from stranger to stranger, which had not often happened in the busy Great City when the Great Building was standing.
Even as the leaders of the Great Nation prepared for war, the people of the Great Nation talked of erecting a new building on the spot where the Great Building once stood. But first, the people decided to feed some of the hungry people whom they had forgotten to feed when the Great Building cast its Great Shadow. And they clothed and sheltered others who were once forgotten and ignored in the Greatest City.
The more the leaders shouted, "War! Revenge!" the less the people in the Great Nation felt like fighting. The more the leaders talked of erecting an even bigger and taller Great Building, the less the people wanted to build it.
"Let's spend the money that we would have used to construct a new Great Building to feed more people-wherever in the world they might live," said the people of the Great Nation. "And let us extend a hand of friendship to the nations that once lived in the Great Shadow of our Great Building."
Instead of erecting a new Great Building, the people of the Great Nation planted a garden. In the garden, they erected a small stone monument, barely tall enough to cast any shadow at all. Upon the monument was inscribed these words:
Bring us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and we will welcome them in our arms. For we are all brothers and sisters
Randall D. Schultz may be contacted at: phone: 505-822-8222 or email: