36 Comments
Aug 2·edited Aug 2Liked by Meg Oolders

Humans are very good at ruining things. And politicians are even better. 😉

A sad, but well-written story. Hopefully, it’s not prophetic.

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That was a beautiful story. It hit all the right cords.

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Aug 2·edited Aug 2Liked by Meg Oolders

I really dug this! I've got thimble-level emotional depth, but this made me feel like a whole bowl. This paints the broad strokes of its world quite well, thanks for the read.

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What a beautifully disturbing and sad story. Hopefully it won’t take complete annihilation for us to love one another as we are.

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Awesome!

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Heartbreaking, disturbing, prophetically terrifying, and mesmerising - all rolled into a perfectly crafted flash.

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Damn, Meg. This story is as bleak as they come, but it offers a sliver of hope and promise. I love everything about it. And your style is just awesome...love the way you write!

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founding

Very propulsive, with clever snippets of world-building throughout. Nice job!

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That was quite a ride!

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"We stopped making babies...voluntarily,...a service,...(for) the greater good."

"They...sterilized,...deafened,...blinded,...severed..." And YET they failed.

"And we started loving again." !!!

BEAUTIFUL . (North,South,East and West side stories all rolled up.)

Thank you for your welcome and optimistic embrace of our cyclical motion of Love.

[Heart and Smile thingy]

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This story feels like poetry. I love the sentence, "Love is what makes us fragile."

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Damn. A truly disturbing vision that, like the best examples of dystopian literature, thoughtfully extrapolates a world to terrifying extents while staying grounded in a deeply human struggle.

What a gut punch and gentle head caress of a story.

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Aug 3Liked by Meg Oolders

Great thoughts to read about. And meditate on. And find ourselves within. I'll end my own fragments with prepositions and see myself out... great Writing, Meg.

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Brilliant, Meg. I tried for two days to respond to this salient, timely story. Such a departure! It took time for me to find the words to reply. But these four lines especially spoke to me.

“The only families left to be had were the ones that could be found. If a hand found another hand, those hands held fast to each other.”... “Failure is what made us human. Made us grow and learn and change.”

Yes! Such a provocative concept, the found family. My own sci-fi story, exemplifies this idea of the gathered, created family and how we grow and change as a culture -- especially in the last two parts where a bit of history is revealed. You have been reading Kathoc Bose. I think it is nearly finished. Your post here was just the confirmation I needed. Thank you!

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But who is “they?” I hope it’s not our mothers again. Always with the rape, incest, and murder admonishments. C’mon, mom! Enough is enough! Sheesh.

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Beautiful story, Meg. Humans have a way of surviving and adapting to anything, don’t we? Kinda like roaches, but in a good way.

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