Everything
we see is vividly unreal in its emptiness.
It is a simple substance. An earthly substance, in need of only minute
human intervention to unleash its full potency.
It was on lush plains of grasses that man first discovered a way to process
it. So versatile was this new substance, entire trading networks quickly
emerged around its production and distribution. Traders brought it east
across deserts and oceans; conquerors carried it north through varied terrain
and climates. Quietly it infiltrated each successive culture, enriching
and depriving; curing and infecting; its presence invisible yet palpable.
Through it, men made their fortunes; because of it, men lost their lives
and their freedom. Economies rose and fell with its import and export.
Hand in hand with religious fervor and ideology, its prominence could build
empires, and later crush them.
It is said that the native people couldn't actually see the ships as they
filled up the harbor. The sight was so foreign, so fantastic, so incomprehensible,
that they didn't see it at all.