－Omid-X to Agamem-X (his father) and Esperan-M (his mother)－
My caring, patient lifegivers, I hope you are joyous and enchanted by your environment. I am progressing well in my adaptation to this planet’s environment and its inhabitants’ beliefs and behaviors. And I must admit, in spite of all the criticism I have often made about them, they do have some rituals, behaviors and mindsets that could do our planet much good, if we adopted them.
I recently accompanied my landlords to an event that is generally referred to as a ‘Barbecue’. In short, it is a gathering of people at another person’s place of residence (usually) to indulge in joyous mingling and exchanges of stories, while consuming foods that have been cooked over a fire, and drinking alcoholic and non-alcoholic liquids. The event usually takes place outdoors in the host’s garden, and it is often when the season brings heat and sun rays for extended periods. I must admit, I enjoyed the event and am looking forward to attending more of them, but I want to rather focus on something else－albeit related－in this email.
After some recent encounter with people at restaurants and bars, and the chats I had at this barbecue, I have come to the conclusion that we, on our planet, are in the wrong to ban alcohol (Cannabis is a separate question). I understand that our people are not resistant to it and tend to become 100% truth-tellers once they consume alcohol. I also understand that our civilization does not want to hear the truth, and we often chastise truth tellers, either by accusing them of being blasphemers, or conspiracy theorists, or disinformation pundits. Nevertheless, I think the benefits outstrip the concerns.
On Earth, it is different. First of all, alcohol, consumed with moderation, does not influence people’s capacity to withhold the truth. Earthlings can easily consume alcohol and continue lying. Secondly, in many areas on Earth, people have no problem with the truth, and surprisingly, there are environments where truth is even highly welcomed! As a result of the two points above, earthlings can consume alcohol, continue lying and pretend they are honest. And most of them live happily together－if and when they do fight, it is generally not due to alcohol nor truth. Consequently, even though there are age and location restrictions in most countries, a large part of Earth has not banned alcohol.
I understand, my lifegivers, that you are a bit confused, to not say disappointed, by these words, and I can see where your problems come from. First of all, you do not understand how we can overcome the problem of 100% truth telling with alcohol on our planet. We have been taught that this phenomenon among our people is of a genetic and biological origin, and cannot be overcome. Secondly, in order to launch the debate on our planet, you would have to publish my email and since our people do not want to hear the truth, you don’t know how to redact this email.
Concerning the second point－redacting the email to keep out the truth－I want to assure you, the contents are so out of sync with our people’s beliefs that most of them would not believe a word of it. But for the small minority that is wise enough to see through the words and see the benefits, we just need to address the first point: how to prevent the truth from coming out if our genes are programmed to push out the truth with alcohol? I must say, I do not have a solid answer yet, but at the barbecue I asked an anthro-biogenetician the question, and he just said: «practice makes perfect!»
From Boston, Massachusetts - 24 August, 2024 (Earth)