My dear fellow Sapients:

Once again -- reference post 1832 -- I am making a plea for sanity.
Kindly stop insulting each other and looking for more ways to make your
side "right" and the other side "wrong" -- kindly just open your minds
and hearts to think and ponder for a few minutes here.

First of all, this post is being written as carefully as possible to
avoid insulting anyone. It is written with all due respect to Divine and
others involved in this situation, so if you find yourself feeling
offended at any point, please clear your mind and look for the real
intention here.

Some good points have been made on both sides, during the course of this
entire Ashtan conflict, but for me the bottom line is this: it takes far
more intelligence, creativity, resourcefulness and effort to create or
to heal than it does to destroy. Any fool can kill and destroy. And any
half-fool can trump up seemingly virtuous excuses for doing so. Let none
of us be fooled by any rhetoric, no matter how high-sounding, that
attempts to pave the way for more destruction and killing.

The facts are these, and with recent public posts -all- should now be
aware of them. Ashtan is a city. Sentient being live there. It is, in
fact, their home. Stop and think for a moment what "home" means to you,
and how you would feel if someone set out to destroy it. Now, despite
old vendettas that anyone may still feel resentful about, despite all
water under the bridge, despite anything which has been said or done on
either side, Ashtan IS now in the actual process of rehabilitating
itself.

Anyone who, at this point, seeks to cause further conflict, or find
further excuses for killing, needs to pick a different target than
Ashtan, its people, or its supporters. There is NO legitimate excuse,
NONE, for continuing or initiating any new hostility in that direction.

It is sad that so much bloodshed and ill-will has been perpetrated by
both sides in this conflict. But even the Divine will not take us back
in time to undo any of that. All we can do now is move forward, with a
view to healing and correcting things as they now stand. It is my
earnest hope that the key figures in this effort will remain in constant
communion with the Divine who are shepherding the rehabilitation of
Ashtan, and will humbly seek guidance from Them as well as from their
own consciences, in any endeavors they may undertake.

Now, today I went to some effort and expense to make a gesture. I knew
at the outset that others could ruin it, could render my efforts
invisible very quickly and easily, yet I did it anyway. I did it to make
a genuine effort, to reach past mere good intentions and take action,
and to make a point. I have been accumulating flowers for years, and
today I gathered hundreds of flowers from my shops and laid a path of
flowers from Ashtan to Shallam, and from Ashtan to as near as I could
safely get to the old entrance to Bloodloch.

Why did I do this?

First of all, I did it as a symbolic gesture to express my earnest
desire that the lines of communication between Ashtan and the rest of
the world remain open and friendly, as this city works to heal itself
and to create a new and better place for itself in the realm. I walked
the path one step at a time, dropping a flower at each step, renewing my
personal commitment to act with consciousness and honor, to work to
build and to heal things of value in this realm.

I also did this to make a few points about peace, and about creating
anything worth having. It takes effort. It takes consciousness. It takes
personal resources and time. Again I say, because it cannot possibly be
said too often: it takes far more intelligence, consciousness and
resourcefulness to build and to heal than it does to destroy. And in a
cosmic sense, all issues of alignment aside, it certainly requires more
honor, courage, and what I deeply feel is actual -goodness- as well.

An interesting thing occurred shortly after I had completed my long walk
from Ashtan to Shallam, and from Ashtan to Bloodloch's old entrance,
dropping a flower at each step. A young Flicker of Flame -- he is young
and I will not mention his name, for my intention here is not to
embarrass him -- shouted asking what was the purpose of all the flowers
on the road. I replied in a shout that I had laid them there for a
purpose, and to please let them be, and that a post explaining them was
shortly to follow. He then told me that he had picked them all up.

I asked nicely for him to either replace them, or to hand them out
lovingly to people he meets in the course of his travels, as I had laid
them down at my own expense for a specific purpose. His reply was: "They
are mine now."

How interesting, and how illustrative of this entire issue. See how
quickly a laborious gesture for what is right can be swallowed up in one
thoughtless act. And see how reluctant some may be to make any sort of
reparation, once their error is pointed out. I do not know what you plan
to do with your huge armful of flowers, little aspiring Flame. Will you
try to sell them? Will you hold onto them until they decay? I hope you
will at least give some to others, so that they may derive some joy from
them. Flowers fade quickly, but even one noble act can live forever in
the heart.

This is what I said to the young Flickering Flame in my last tell before
writing this, and I repeat it here because it is likewise an appeal to
ALL who claim to follow any form of Light or goodness or honor
whatsoever:

You tell Purifying Flame -name-, Flicker of Flame, "Well... think about
the Light and the Goodness you claim to represent... surely respect for
goodness should be high on your list... I appeal to the conscience that
every one who claims to follow the Light should have in abundance Think
it over carefully... instead of selling them I laid them down for a
purpose. Think carefully, and be well."

Whether you claim to be of light, dark, neutral or no alignment, I
appeal today to whatever sense of honor, personal integrity or just
plain sanity you possess. Look within yourself. No matter what your
guild or order or city or friends may be asking or urging you to do,
look within and ask yourself what your -real- motives are. If you are
just looking for excuses to kill or win a name for yourself, at least
spare us the rhetoric trying to justify it under some cause or other. If
your intentions are higher, more intelligent or more honorable, kindly
refrain from adding to the conflict.

Perhaps you do not have the time or the will to work to make things
better. It appears that very few do. But at least refrain from adding to
the negativity and turmoil. Regardless how young and powerless you
believe yourself to be, refuse to support what is wrong, even if you do
not feel brave enough to do what is right. And for those who do have
some strength or courage to heal and to build: may the Divine and your
own consciences guide you. May you continually practice the self-honesty
required to walk with integrity and honor on -any- path, light or dark.

Ashtan IS now in the actual process of rehabilitating itself. Let those
who will help in this effort begin the work. And let the rest occupy
themselves with their own affairs. Thank you.

Penned by my hand on the 21st of Lanosian, in the year 130 MA.