I watched as another world burned before my eyes. An entire group of cultures wiped out from their homes, eradicated because of their beliefs. Their allies on nearby worlds would pick up their cause, making them martyrs to further their own agenda while others would paint them as terrorists to add validity to their own schemes.
And the ignorant would fan the flames of hatred willingly, not realizing they were all choking on the shit being shoved down their throats.
I learned a lifetime ago it’s never been about “us vs them”. I possess one of the most black and white viewpoints of anyone I’ve met and even to me it’s painfully obvious how infantile and short-sighted that is. Reality is chaos. The universe moves towards anarchy, not order. Order is an imposed set of moralities whether conceived by religion, government or culture is irrelevant. Structures are put in place to prevent us from giving in to our most base nature as human beings – survival of the fittest; might makes right.
It wasn’t not too long ago that Empress Jamyl Sarum was killed. On a political level as a true Minmatar who had suffered under the yoke of oppression from the Amarr Empire since my birth, a part of me was happy to see her dead. I had fought too long and too hard for the freedom of my people to not feel some sense of satisfaction from this blow to my enemy.
Yet the immortal in me, the man that had been learning to see the bigger picture in things, beyond political gain, beyond the power struggles of petty man, mourned her loss. She brought order to her people, something that was sorely needed as a check to maintain balance in the universe. Already the Amarr Chamberlain Haromi was spinning it to incense the Amarr, citing that she was “killed in action, defending God’s will.” Already her people were ready to continue dying in her name.
It’s not about religion. It’s not about politics. It’s about power, plain and simple. The few that want to hold sway over the many fan the flames of hatred and ignorance for profit.
The knowledge is there, easy and accessible for us to educate ourselves with. But it’s so much easier to hate. It takes far less effort to pick a side in a conflict and feel comfort from those that believe the same garbage we do. We collude with each other for acceptance, to mask our own insecurities and fears. We are all afraid to be exposed, to reveal ourselves, to stand in the light. Don’t look at me, look over there!
Somehow we ignore the ongoing threat of the Drifters. We forget that our own enemy alliances are building citadels throughout New Eden. We just focus on getting paid. We take for granted the technology that keeps us living well after many deaths. We are spoiled children posing as adults, enforcing the ideals of terrorism by our very existence. Unkillable mercenaries. I make myself sick some days.
But not today.
Today I watch as the world before me burns. I stop questioning the right or wrong of it. Morality is flawed. There is only choice and consequence. The sooner we realize that as a species, the better off we’ll all be.
For now, I simply collect my isk for a job well done and warp off to the nearest gate, heading to a station three jumps away to restock on orbital bombs.
ROC'S RAMBLINGS 
That is a very bleak viewpoint Colonel. For me, the issue is more one of scale. Do you kill a ship full of people to kill a mass murder on board? Do you kill a dozen ships, twenty, three hundred?
Do you leave alone that paper hulled cargo vessel out of mercy? How many more will die if that viral agent is delivered? At what point do the means not justify the ends?
We are immortal. We know far too much, and our souls are stained with it. And you are right, there is only action and consequence. However, there are those out there who make the choice of putting shoulder to the yoke with the right intent.
You have been through fire more than most, and I am aware of the massive destruction you are quite capable of.
But I would say to you this: choose your enemies wisely, Colonel. For the right of it. For the innocents caught in the crossfire. And most of all, for yourself.
Truth is perspective. What defines right? It is the conflicting views of right, and the fanatical devotion to proving your own view of right is the correct one, that leads to these unnecessary conflicts to begin with. Logic says you can’t prove you were right to a dead enemy.
By the same token, atrocities committed cannot be tolerated; should not be tolerated. Who will be left standing to judge what was right when we have wiped ourselves from existence? Maybe this is what happened to the Jove gods from those mythological stories of old.
Unthinking zealotry is terrifying enough. Coupled with the power available to a capsuleer… we are sufficiently monstrous already I think.
When I talk of the right of it, I am talking more of internal consistency. Being true to oneself. By taking fights that do not cause bile to rise in your throat. Integrity may be too strong a word to use because it is a dirty business however you look at it.
I work for the Caldari State, and various megacorporations within it. However, it is the gurista pirates that I fight when I can. By choice, and because it, for me, causes the least discomfort. I am after all, snuffing thousands of lives out with every ship launch.
You are a good man Colonel, and it worries me when your communications suggest you might not care as much as you used to.
But perhaps that is flawed logic too, for you are a capsuleer as am I. And humanity has grown small beneath our gaze.
We are agreed on many things. The greatest enemy is self, especially for those of us living multiple lives. My caring has actually deepened, hence why I am so strongly positioned on this. Apathy doesn’t engage in discussion. That power you speak of that we possess should begin with dialogue.