It's 2006. by A. J. Roberts

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SUMMARY: A man has a lot of time for thought.

It's 2006.

I'm walking. I've been walking for quite some time. I don't really know how long I've been walking for, it seems like it has been a long time, many moons have overlooked my seemingly aimless travels. I don't know if I ever stop walking, I know I stop to rest and take in sustenance, but I always wake up somewhere different. Do I walk in my sleep or am I still asleep, is there any way of telling?

Maybe I keep walking because I don't like change or is it because I have no where to go and nothing to do when I get there? I've been walking for quite some time, I don't like change.

I'm of the opinion that most people don't like change. They argue and lament about things in the past but do nothing to change them. The rich lead the poor in endless circles of stupidity. People complain about things they bring about themselves. I have no time for complaints, only walking. I don't like change.

It's getting dark, I don't like the dark. Too many things can change around me without me knowing it. I think nature is out to get me. Can nature perform subternatural events? Are the trees spying on me? Has that bird been following me all this time? Where am I? Who am I? I think I'm lost, off the beaten track, something is wrong, I don't like change.

The trees are gone, as is the bird. I'm walking again. The sun is out. In every direction I walk I see people. All kinds of people of different races, upbringing and wealth. Yet all these people have something to complain about. I once contemplated returning to civilization, returning to live with these people, returning to an unsatisfying life, with plenty to complain about, most brought about by myself. But then I thought better of it. I'm not like most people, I don't dwell in the past, I don't complain about the idiocy of others, or the ignorance of the powerful. I don't like change.

I've been thinking, I have a lot of time for thought – vivid mental activity. Someone once said, "Thought as well as action wearies us" and this got me to thinking, how many people truly stop and think? At an early age we are taught to think: What is 2 + 2? Thinking .... 4. What is the capitol of England? Thinking .... London. But at what age do people stop thinking? In today's Techno-Age, we have computers to think for us, questions no longer need thought to be answered, its all there for us to grab and our brains have no need to compute. The powers that govern us no longer seem to think. Would life be that much more desirable to me if thought were equal to action? Where "instincts" are less relied on than facts? I must stop dreaming, it'll never happen. Nobody likes change.

I think quite some time has passed. I have no real way of finding out. No computers where I am. Countless Days. Countless Hours. Countless Minutes. Am I still alive? Is this heaven? Nothing to do but think. More would be solved if other variables weren't involved. What if an hour a day was devoted to honest thought? Would war be avoided? Would world hunger be solved? Would I still be here? I doubt it, involves too much change.

My world is less vivid.