The Giver

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1 Corinthians 13:12

You don't know yourself perfectly. Only god knows.

In the story "Giver", Jonas gets chosen to play the most important role in the society. The receiver of memories. He meets the memory giver. The giver shares memories from every people, and memories from the past. The giver teaches Jonas, that even the world and the societies in the past were cruel and violent, they were beautiful. They had emotions. They cared for one another, trying to help each other, cry together, laugh together, and love each other. Of course sometimes, there were conflicts between them. They began war to take each other's possessions. They killed other living creatures for their own good. But not all people were like that. Some people were trying their best to stop these conflicts. But this was a natural thing. It was nature.

But inside the society where Jonas lives, every people's emotions get controlled. They take injections to remove their emotions every day because it was the policy. They were always watched. They were not allowed to touch other people except the members of their family unit. They weren't allowed to use old words like "love", "baby", or "toy". They had to have precision of language. The babies were chosen which family unit they will join. But if there was a twin, the one with lower weight gets "released". Released means, termination. Also every part of their daily schedule were fixed by the government which they had to follow strictly. Weather was also controlled. The government removed winter, because they stopped farmers from growing plants, weeds, and vegetables. Jonas and the giver wants to free this world, and bring back the world before these governments and systems were established.

Is the world inside this story better than the world we live in? I don't think so. Inside the world we live in, conflicts happen. But also there are positive events like weddings, birthday parties, or some other ceremonies. But inside the utopian society where Jonas lives in, every ceremonies, every conflicts, every people, every rules, every emotions and feelings are controlled. Fixed to be a perfect world by some creators or our ancestors. The utopian society might keep us away from conflicts happening, but they also limit our lives. And I think this world is not natural. Because everything is under control.

We learn from the conflicts we make. We explore and find new things. And we evolve. But in the utopian world, we can never learn new things. We can't evolve. The utopian society looks like people being scared of losing what they have achieved so far and trying their best to keep everyone from challenging new experiences and new technologies. We must not keep ourselves from danger. We need to experience it. And learn from it. We must keep going on and never settle.

By Justin