December 25, 2011

• Eleven

  Eleven

   

  It's been eleven years since Bianca invited my wife to come over and sign up for a Free Xanga Weblog. Connie wasn't interested and since I was writing on Yahoo then, back then it was called GeoCities, she passed the invitation along to me. I signed up for a Weblog, not really knowing what a Weblog was or into what it might transform. There weren't many of us back then. We were The Knights of the Old Xanga and the adventure had begun. It got off to a slow start by today's standards but began picking up speed and participants. The Old Internet was nothing like it is now. Everything was slower and smaller. There was no such thing as YouTube and videos were rare. Going viral was still far into the future and unimaginable to most. As with every electronic community we gathered together into ever expanding groups. The Knights of the Old Xanga enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity in an atmosphere that seemed to us like Camelot. For a while it was the best of what people can have as they gather and interact socially. It took a while for human nature to rear its ugly head. It was the gold for which Dragons are greedy that started the first ripples of the fall. The Gold came in the form of eProps. Before The gods ofXangadu realized what they'd created they used to post how many eProps each Weblog had received. The competition wasn't especially fierce in the beginning, but soon the seeds of discontent began to germinate in the hearts of The Knights of the Old Xanga. At first there wasn't a great deal of bloodshed over the coveted eProps. A nick or two here and there with commiserating bandaids quickly applied stanched the flow for a time. Soon The Two Great Dragons, Greed and Self-Love flew into the idyllic kingdom of Xangadu. They were satisfied carrying off a few scattered sheep while The Knights of the Old Xanga slowly formed protective circles brandishing their shields to ward off the insidious assaults against the once peaceful and lovely Xangadu. As the Gold increased so did The Two Great Dragons' Lust for it. Entwined in a heated embrace The Two Great Dragons produced two more Dragons in Xangadu. Pride and Vanity were hatched and grew at an alarming rate. The Knights of the Old Xanga began to turn on one another as the battle grew hotter and more fierce with each new posting of the top eProp scores. The light in hearts grew dim as the Dragons' Darkness spread across Xangadu.

   

  The old banners and standards began to fall one after another as Greed and Self-Love drove The Knights of the Old Xanga lower and lower in search of the golden eProps. Pride and Vanity stirred ever more powerfully in the hearts of The Knights of the Old Xanga and their former camaraderie transformed into a greedy competition that seemed insatiable. Banners once held high were replaced with swords turned against one another. Harsh words flew from camp to camp like poison arrows. Much damage had been done before The gods of Xangadu realized that the imagination of man's heart is subject to Greed. They wisely stopped posting the coveted eProp totals on the front page every day. By this time Xangadu had become like a bustling city where it was hard to know your neighbor personally. The city was divided into different camps as the spirit of adventure waned and the need for walls became clear. The dogs of war had found their way in and were feeding on the scraps The Two Great Dragons had left in their terrible wake. This tale is told in short but in truth it took years for The gods of Xangadu to build the walls. Many of The Knights of the Old Xanga fell on their own swords while others fell prey to the Dragons' Darkness that spread across the land turning brother against brother and sister against sister in their lust for Gold. There yet remain some of The Knights of the Old Xanga, but they are mostly quiet, scarred and worn from a battle that lasted far too long. A battle that was never won and has now taken on a different visage. The Two Great Dragons, now morphed like the legendary Phoenix, still rule the sky over once lovely Xangadu. Their offspring hide away in the caves of men's hearts guarding their treasure and waiting for the cover of darkness.

   

  • 10:02 am
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