There was once an earthworm colony that had happily lived for generations in the green section separating a street and a parking lot:
Life was good for them. Constant humidity, shade, and nutrient reinforcement in the soil have seen them prosper. Through generations they developed a culture that reinforced the power of positivity, for this they said would increase happiness and happiness was the chief goal in life. “Negative” stories that warned of tragedy, defeat and danger where considered “antisocial” and anyone speaking them socially chastised. It was said that the universe would manifest what you thought, and pretty fluffy feelings in their tummies were the causality of good things, while doubts, or claims to objective evidence and the rules of critical thinking a recipe for disaster. If some illness did befall someone, such as a bird eating an earthworm, they blamed the collective negative thinking of the colony for having manifested this ill omen, or the bad karma of the individual earthworm eaten, and in order to prevent it they would bury and forget the story, instead of objectively realizing that exposure to the surface during day time was a cause for the worm to be eaten…
Grown in this colony of positive thinkers was one valiant earthworm called Carl. Carl was told since childhood that the universe has “infinite abundance” and everything “good” or “bad” that has ever happened to him is a result from his “positive” or “negative” attitude, thoughts and actions. With this doctrine in mind he knew that there was nothing that he couldn’t achieve as long as he remained cheerful and optimistic.
With this solid doctrine of success Carl decided to plunge himself into the wider world and find a mythical promised land that lay beyond the asphalt of the parking lot. It didn’t matter that there was no evidence for this mythical land, or that he didn’t know when the asphalt ended, or how long it would take him to reach it or how long he could survive crawling to his unknown destination for he would use his intuition to navigate the parking lot, which was an endless sea of rock for him as far as the eye could see.
And so, with a smile on his face and none in the colony wanting to manifest negativity with their doubts of this ill prepared and illogical venture, they motivated him and bid him farewell. “I will comeback” Carl told them, as he described the paradisaical wonders the universe would provide for him with his positive thinking and belief in the manifestations of the universe.
He began his trip in the cool of night, smiling and imagining all the good things that would be in this imaginary land of his, which he was sure would manifest as long as he remained positive. His colony had taken away all stories of failure and tragedy, and this he knew, would mean he had nothing but positive examples of success, which he could manifest in his life.
The hours moved by, and he tired, but yet valiant Carl persisted. Thoughts of going back entered his mind, but he was trained to flush them out. “I could still turn back” a voice in him said, after his was realizing that the endless sea of asphalt was even larger and harder to travel than he imagined. But he wouldn’t allow negativity to dissuade him, for what is the worst thing that could happened? For even if Carl failed, he knew that failures were learning lessons that would make him better. And so, with these masterful maxims of positive thinking he pressed on, ignoring the cues his environment and reason were giving him.
After several tiring hours of pressing on the sun began to rise. This was the first time Carl saw the sun without the cover of trees, grass and dirt. Carl began to cry in happiness, for this was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. He was glad that he ha not turned back, for he wouldn’t have experience the beauty of the sunrise. All doubts about his venture had vanished, and he now knew beyond a doubt that he would find his promised land, and had done the right thing in venturing out.
The sun rose, and illuminated his path. He could see clearer and further and he had ever seen before. He saw this as a positive sign from the universe, and a manifestation of his own enlightenment. He could imagine how he would be received, as a hero, and perhaps Monica or Sansa, who he had loved, would finally see him for who he truly was, and start a family with him. He began to even wonder if his status was now legendary, he could perhaps have them both, and their sisters and cousins… his smiled, and more invigorated than ever pressed on. He would chase his dreams, and the universe would reword him in it’s infinite justice for having been a good and positive earthworm and not doubting in the power of love and happiness projected from his attitude.
But as the sun rose, and the heat increased, the humidity and coolness of the asphalt began to leave.
It was dry, but Carl knew that the universe wouldn’t ever put an obstacle he couldn’t surmount. Undeterred and ever believing and positive, he continued on. But the hot sun was relentlessness, and seemed to only grow hotter as he grew weaker.
Carl began to suffer from the heat, he wanted to lay in the shade, in the cool black dirt with his colony, but it was no use, just an endless ocean of asphalt that seemed to grow hotter under his skin. but in distance, not to far away, a shadow seemed to appear out of nowhere.
It was a miracle! Just when Carl thought that he may be doomed, the universe had provided! Carl crawled to the shadow, it had appeared rather close from it, he reached it, and could instantly feel the cooler ground once he arrived. Victory! but… as he was celebrating his embrace of life and shade something crushed half his body. Some giant creature crushed him and left him there, to die. Half of his body was now a pulp, glued to the grown and useless. Carl did his best to release himself and move on, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t release himself.
Carl wanted to cry, but he remembered he had to stay positive to get out of this bad situation. And so he started to think positively, and played to the universe. A lonely ant found Carl. “Alas! my luck has changed for the better now! Ant! I am stuck! Please save me! Call for help!” and so the ant, seeming to understand Carl, left. When he returned an army of ants followed him. Carl wanted to cry in happiness.
The ants surrounded and inspected Carl. Carl told them to be careful, he would have to be lifted with caution in order not to injure him even more. Carl laid back, exhausted, surrendering himself to his rescuers. After a short while he noticed that he wasn’t moving. He stretched his neck to see what was going on, and saw that the ants were carrying out mouthfuls of his flesh. They had started to bite away at the crushed half portion of his body where he lacked sensitivity now. He was horrified, but knew that that section of him was stuck to the grown, so the ants were perhaps simply trying to unglue him in order to carry him out to safety. He had to think positively. He also noticed that the shadow began to move away, and that sun he had once thought was so beautiful began to shine brighter and hotter than ever. “I’m too weak” Carl thought, “If I’m exposed to the sun one more time I will surely die.”
With death looming near, the learned bullshit on positivity was partly forgotten and a more ancient, instinctual, part of the brain awoken. Still the stupidity from his conditioning didn’t entirely leave him. “Hurry ants! Hurry and get me unstuck Oh my blessed good friends! For if the sun reaches me I’m surely gone!” the ants seemed to understand him, and worked harder to bite out his dead soft flesh that had been crushed. Carl tried to remember that the universe won’t throw at him anything he couldn’t handle, and tried to tell himself that the ants would soon save him and carry him to safety. Perhaps to the promised land his was seeking. But he missed home, he wanted to return back to the colony. A thought whispered in his mind, telling him that he should have never had left, but he reminded himself that everything happens for a reason, in the end it all turns out well, all failures are lessons…
Eventually the sun reached him as the ants were getting about ready to finish devouring his dead flesh, his tilted head could see as much. The midday sin was hotter than ever, and it burned. Oh how it burned! The shinny start that had been so beautiful this morning was now burning him alive! He couldn’t tell what hurt worse, the direct exposure to the sun rays from above, or the heated pavement from below.
He screamed to help the the ants “please dear friends! You have to move me now, you’ve moved enough dead flesh that I should be able to be carried away to safety!” To the shade please it burns!”
The ants indeed had finished hacking his shattered lower half away, and then approached his still healthy upper half. “Yes, they understand me” Carl thought. “The universe never throws something at me that I can’t handle, and I’ve remained positive, I will make it out alive.”
But the ants instead began to bit away pieces of flesh from his healthy upper half. Carl screamed at them, telling them they didn’t have to bite away that section, that it was healthy, that it wasn’t crushed, to carry him away, please, the sun burned, and their bites where even more painful. But the ants didn’t listen, their sharp fangs made a terrible noise and cause a sharp pain as they cut into the healthy flesh of Carl and walked away with bits of flesh as Carl looked as them helplessly.
Carl began to sob. The sob of confusion, of lost hope, of desolation, of accepting and understanding his fate. To be eaten alive by small mouthfuls as the sun burned him. The pain was even more terrible where the ant had teared away a piece of flesh, and the skinless muscles of Carl were exposed to the heat. Carl sobbed, wondering what he could possibly had done to deserve this fate. In the end, in between the horror, he realized it must have been vanity. Had he not been wanting the glory of being the one who discovered his new promised land, he would have found it. It was the motivation behind his action that caused this punishment. He wanted status, and women, and glory, not the safety of the colony (even though he could swear that had been part of it).
Carl sobbed and kept repeating “I’m sorry, please, I learned my lesson, please make it stop, I’ve learned my lesson please” until the pain was so terrible he couldn’t do anything else but scream, but he lost the strength for that also, and spent his last moment hearing the ants tearing apart his flesh, watching them carry it out in their mouths, the pain never ending. And then Carl passed away…
Back in the Colony Carl was hailed as a hero. As a manifestation of positive thinking gone right. There was no knowledge of his fate. Since only positive thinking was allowed, and the speech was regulated to only reflect this, all naysayers where suppressed and the most fantastic tales of his success began to spread. Wanting to follow in his footsteps the whole colony decided to embark in the journey Carl had taken. Mothers had named their new borns after the hero, and he was claimed to be an inspiration to all. And so, every last earthworm jumped to the asphalt in mass, and started their journey.
But the large party that headed for the road were soon ran over by a car. The ones that survived were eaten alive by birds or ants as was the case with Carl. And so, they came to their end due to their blind belief in a just universe that rewarded and punished them based on their “positive thinking” and threw away critical thinking and objective evidence after generations of wealth under the well humid dirt of a green parking lot section.