Two
bullets sat and talked trying to understand their purpose. They knew only a few things about their
existence which was that when it was time to fly, they must fly and when it was
time to kill, they must kill. This
was their design, much like the great sharks of the Ocean or the fierce
predators of the African plane.
“I
will do as I am told, for that is my job,” the first bullet said. “I will be used to my purpose when I am
commanded.” This bullet was very
proud and wanted nothing more than to be successful. He had dreams of flight with abrupt ends and a world changed
by his actions. There was no such
thing as good and evil to him, only purpose.
The
other bullet was shy and had different ideals. It said, “What if when it is time to kill, I do not want to
kill? Perhaps my target will be
innocence instead of danger, and it is not right to kill innocence. What if I refuse?”
“Then
you will be a failure and must accept your consequences,” the first bullet
said, “for it is not our job to choose.
That is a greater power that we do not possess.”
This
did not sit well with the second bullet.
He wanted to be sure that when it came time to fulfill his duties, he
would be doing what was moral and just.
But how would he ever know?
There must be a trust towards those that commanded him, yet this never
comes to pass. A job is presented
and a job is done, that was the life of a bullet. In between where the visions of fear and power that mortal
beings possessed in thinking of such jobs.
These
were times of war and danger; such is the way of history. There were those who took advantage of
the weak and those who stood against them. Days turned into nights which turned into days where lives
disappeared. Those days gave birth
to new lives which would grow and do great or terrible things. The lives would use hammers to build houses
and form cities to live in and write doctrines on how to govern them. Walls would be built for safety while
other weapons would be built to destroy such creations. Every tool had purpose and design. A hammer could not decide who lived in
the house it had built; it was not the hammer’s purpose for it never refused to
hit a nail on the head. If it did,
a new hammer would be acquired to finish the job. Perhaps the house would become a home to a loving family or
a vicious killer, but who could ever know?
A
day came when the bullets were called to duty and loaded into a gun.
“Our
day has arrived, my brother,” the first bullet said, “we shall fly.”
“And
create a hole in the world, no doubt,” the second replied.
“Or
mend one. Who is to say?”
The
second bullet wondered about this and realized that despite his purpose, he
still had choice. There was always
choice, and there was always consequence. He could take a life, or save a life among other things and
he knew it.
Before
long, the first bullet was fired and he fulfilled his purpose. He flew because it was time to fly and
killed because it was time to kill.
And that was the end of him.
When
it was time for the second to be fired, he said aloud, “I will not go! There are too many things I do not know
and cannot bring myself to fly into the unknown. Thus, I remain!”
And so he wedged himself in the gun in such a way that he could not be
fired. The gun then failed to be
used to its purpose, which meant the owner of the gun could not use it. Because the man could not fire his gun,
he could not fulfill his purpose and was then killed in a devastating and
brutal fashion by an enemy. The
blood from his body leaked into the gun and the bullet saw first hand the
consequence for his action. Most
fault comes when obedience is questioned, and some mistakes can never be
undone.
Since
the bullet turned against its nature, a whole system collapsed around it. He was not saving a life without
destroying another. His fate could
not be escaped. By not doing what
he was created to do, others around him suffered the harsh consequences.
