Coronavirus and the Road to Glory

In the supernal environment of the Higher Plains grazed Fauna Bovina and Fauna Sus.

“I hear murmurs of suffering. I can imagine, but I don't want to look. Can you see anything?” asked Fauna Sus.

“There is a truck crammed with frightened living creatures. I am certain that for days they have travelled with no food or water. It is freezing cold and the wind is howling below. Some of them are already frozen to the sides of that vehicle. Crowbars hang ready to tear away their frozen flesh and make them scream in agony,” answered Fauna Bovina.

“Are there ropes and chains ready to shackle the downers and drag them off the trucks?”

"Yes. And electric prods ready to poke into the faces and up the rectums of those too frightened to leave this their torture chamber. In the abattoir, some will be dismembered while alive. They will die piece by piece."

"There is a new sound I have not heard before. Where is that coming from?"

"Suffering is the same everywhere. Some of the humans are running around in a panic. They are falling ill and blaming the bats," answered Fauna Bovina.

“It has been said that if the humans did not kill us, they would not kill each other.”

“Perhaps the bats are teaching the lesson.”

"By reverse example? Is that irony?"

“Perhaps it is a way of sharing the experience. Perhaps they are hoping the humans will acquire empathy. Ha!”

“Why do you laugh?”

“I am just thinking of the name the humans have given themselves. Homo sapiens.”

“The wise man.”

"Better would be Homo saeva."

"The cruel man. They practice cruelty. That is why they are good at it."

"Or Homo sui ipsius decepti."

"The self-deceived man. Speciosity is their specialty."

They were given unheeded guidance by The Murdered One."

"Do unto others . . .”

" 'Others' is very carefully defined depending upon what it is they want to do."

"They are flexible then."

"Oh, very. That is why they have reasoned it wise and good to cram each other into boxcars, into the holds of ships, into ovens, to set each other on fire with explosives from above . . . all manner of atrocities. All with unspeakable consequences. They then claim salvation through the auspice of The Murdered One."

"Murder then is their comfort."

"Murder of the innocent."

"Perhaps that is why they avoid innocence."

"In the abattoir, when the animals are trying to escape their murderers, when they are struggling against pain and death, some humans invoke the name of The Murdered One."

"In supplication?"

"They will say so. But it is actually done in frustration. In mockery. In defiance."

"Do the humans ever ask forgiveness?"

"They do. Yes. And they always forgive themselves."