The Dimenthesien Gate split the world. From one side, it seemed like a large pyramid, but from the other side, it seemed like a dark doorway. It could not be seen by eyes or photographed by lens and film, but everyone knew its appearance. From far off, it loomed as large as the pyramids at Giza, but the closer it was approached, the lesser it became, until it seemed small enough to be sat on by a child, or to fit inside a spoon, or to dance on the head of a pin. Through it all the problems of the world were sent.
No one knew where the problems went, at first. It was not until ages later that rumor started to spread, and finally the Gate was destroyed.
The Gate was not created, and not discovered. It did not show up one day suddenly, or drop from the sky, or rise from the earth. Instead, the people of the earth slowly produced the Gate from a common desire. Perhaps the desire was created by the Gate, and so the Gate came from itself. It is unknown. Everyone knew when the Gate appeared, but it was not simultaneous for all people. It was much like the knowledge of a procrastinated task that has been put off for too long, and must finally be attended to.
The first people to arrive at the Gate were those who had the courage to leave their lives in search of betterment. The aesthetics, the dreamers, and those who had nothing to lose. They guarded the Gate from others, debating endlessly what it signified and what should be done with it. In those days the Gate was small and often concealed behind mountains and opinions, and its call was faint for few had realized that it existed.
In the beginning, only a single problem could be passed through the Gate by a single person. The aesthetics, having renounced problems, had little to offer it. The dreamers, seeing few problems, wasted time wondering what would become of them. But those with no hope, those with so many problems that leaving their lives behind meant little, sent problem after problem through the Gate, and it was by their mouths that the word spread.
Soon, the world turned its collective attention to the Gate and sought to exploit it. The millions upon millions of people who desired to remove problems were unable to reach it, for although the Gate looked large from afar, it was too small for more than one problem at a time. This, itself, was a problem, until one clever fool sent this problem through the Gate and a way was devised for the world to remove a problem from all people at once.
Immediately the global and political landscape changed. Citizens and subjects clamored to have their problems removed en masse, but conflict arose. Violence and anger arose from the population, and the leaders could do nothing but sue for peace between nations. Eventually a balance between the frightened many and the powerful few was achieved.
If all the people of the world were to be affected, then the problems that were sent through the Dimenthesien Gate must be decided by logic and reason. However, the foolishness that exists only in the mob prevailed, and the leaders fought with each other to win favor with the many; and the many sought only to remove problems from themselves. Enterprising men and women began to sway the opinion of the many. Fear arose, and trouble started between new groups. It was not until much later that this was understood.
The first problem sent through the Gate was hunger. This was the mistake.
A selfless act of the nations, reasoning that what greater cause of suffering was there across the globe but hunger? At once, the people of the earth were satiated and hungered no more. Many died before the second problem, starvation, was put through the Gate. The problem of the Gate became known to all at that time.
The many and the few both found themselves changed. They did not eat for want of hunger, yet they did eat that they would not starve. The world changed. Those who had no food found it, and those who had food found it as well. Nothing could not be eaten that would not stop starvation.
The many cried out in anger against the few, but the few pointed at them claiming that what they did was at the bequest of the many. An uproarious conflict was started and wars were once again fought over the control of the Gate. In time, the masses were swayed by a powerful individual who spoke of the need for wisdom when using the Gate. The people agreed to send the lack of wisdom, stupidity, through the Gate, and so it was done.
Yet what is stupidity? Some have more knowledge and others have more reason, yet few think of themselves as less wise than those around them. And yet many thought of themselves as less foolish, and the world was deluded. What followed was a period of great overconfidence, and it produced many poor decisions, until it was realized that nothing had been put through the Gate.
Slowly, the world spun, and the people harbored ill will towards each other. Anger flared across the globe and many nations were wiped out. In dismay, the few chose to reduce strife by putting hatred through the Gate, and so it was done.
The world calmed, yet the strife continued. Men and women fought, for they still had fear, and they conquered, for they still had greed. Yet the anger was gone. Instead, combat was pleasant. There were smiles, when there were not tears. Those who were wronged mourned their losses, but did not become angry. And so it was that many lost their lives at the hands of those who were not stopped by wrathful victims.
And so the people of the world put greed through the gate. Battles did not stop in mid-charge, nor did those in power relinquish control over the many, but great changes occurred.
Less and less was needlessly accumulated and consumed. Those in power chose less that would help themselves and more that would help others. The many no longer fought wars over greedy causes, or desired more for themselves and their own. Boarders blended, and people merged.
However, production and industry fell apart. Without buyers, sellers had no business. Items were rationed out to the people, who were told to use what they were given that they might not waste away.
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