Page 109 of The Pacifist
Deep frown lines showed on Magni’s face. “I’m not talking about you. You’re the only decent one, but the others are fucking lunatics. I’ve heard the way they talk about us Nmen and I’ve seen how they break down men. It’s disgusting.”
I sat down and crossed my feet at my ankles. “If I could change anything, it would be this destructive them-and-us culture that exists on both sides of the border.”
“We didn’t start it, they did.” Magni was pointing to the door as if a delegation from the Motherlands were waiting outside. “Listening to them judge you for doing normal things is enough to make me furious. And you want to bring my daughter to that awful place.”
I kept my tone calm and civil. “As with all extremism it’s really just a matter of good people convinced by bad ideas. The Council members who want me gone aren’t all man-haters. They have just been conditioned to feel unsafe with men in power. When they lash out, it’s because of fear.”
“Why are you defending those mean-spirited hags?”
“Because the only way to get us all back on track is to break down those barriers of fear and misconception. Magni, I’ve told you this before. There are a lot of great things to be said about the Motherlands. It’s not a homogenous country. It’s people of all colors, spread out around the world. They have different cultural backgrounds but no one is richer or poorer. Now, we just need to work on the equality.”
“Screw them. At this pace, it’s going to be at least a hundred years before there’s equality on the Council. Those ladies are no better than the men before them that clung to power like it was an oxygen mask.”
“Which is why we need to keep pushing the integration process and the question of equality.”
“Fuck yeah we do. The more women we get to come up here and the more men we can send down to infiltrate their ways, the better.”
“Magni, you’ve got to let go of this combative them-and-us mentality. It’s not like they are wrong and you are right. No country is perfect and there’s no wrong way here. It’s justdifferent ways.”
I was impressed with how real Magni’s new hand looked when he picked up an apple and began peeling it with a knife. “If there’s no wrong way, then why not just do it our way?”
With a sigh, I let my shoulders fall. “One day I hope to hear you say that the people in the Motherlands are great people.”
“Not fucking likely.”
“How can you demonize one point six billion people as psychopaths and monsters?”
Placing his elbow on the desk, Magni leaned forward, pointing at me with the little knife. “You should say the same to them. They’ve villainized us for centuries, and you know it!”
I threw up my hands. “You’re right, but they’ve also come far in terms of admitting they were wrong in some ways. Magni, you’re smart enough to understand that tribal nature is inherently ingrained in us. You’re just as tribal-minded as they are.”
“You’d better not be sitting there calling me primitive.”
I shook my head. “We’re all primitive when it comes to how our nervous system is programmed. Exclusion from a group used to mean certain death. Who was going to help you when you got sick? I’m not calling you primitive, Magni. I’m just trying to make you understand that it’s human nature to group together. It’s the old story of me against my brother, my brother and me against our cousin, my family against your family, our village against the neighbor village.”
“The Motherlands against the Northlands,” Magni added. “Don’t forget they call me the biggest enemy of their state.”
“That was years ago.”
Magni raised his voice. “I’m still banned from crossing the border.”
“Because you kidnapped Athena.”
“So? That was twelve years ago and Athena is back home. It’s not like I would do it again.”
“My point is that we need to stop dividing people into mental boxes of them and us.”
“You keep saying that, but it sounds like idealistic bullshit to me.” Magni popped another piece of apple in his mouth. “I can’t believe you would defend them when they’re screwing you over.”
I sighed and crossed my arms. “I represent change and some people prefer the status quo because it offers safety. I get that.”
“Sounds like you’ve given up.” Magni narrowed his eyes and used my own words from our last conversation. “And here I thought you weren’t a quitter.”
“I’m not! If I’m removed from the Council, I’ll continue working for equality and fairness for all.”
“Huh!”
“In the end all that matters to me is that I do it with Mila by my side.”
