Pieces of You (24 page)

“The people you just saw used this knowledge to create inoculants.”

“Oh my God have mercy on the people subject to them!”

Suddenly a cloud passed over Mark’s face and a look of sheer terror replaced the anger.

“Zachri, are you suggesting that we
—
Janine and Martin and I
—
will be in the masses on the subject side?”

“I’m not trying to be evasive but I think the best answer to your question is a question. After what you’ve seen and learned about yourself through our journeys
, and
after how you’ve struggled to come to terms with the man you were, do you think you could be the kind of person that would be accepted into MAF?”

“I couldn’t live with myself and, if I should waver, Janine wouldn’t live with me. But surely there is a third option between the all-powerful and the completely powerless? I don’t mind being one of the middle class. I was before.”

“Mark, by 2025 there will be no middle class. Surely, you can believe that when the signs have been apparent for at least the past two decades? You may have been immune right up to the present but that won’t ensure you escape from what’s coming. Many of your colleagues, some with much greater net worth than yours, will shortly be reduced to near poverty.

“
Let me give you an example of the impact of one person’s greed. This is the true story of a man who will become one of the most hated men in the financial world.

“
This person, using a Ponzi scheme, will dupe 4,800 of the privately super-rich, plus pension funds and charitable foundations, out of nearly fifty billion dollars.”

Zachri noted the look of incredulity on Mark’s face and continued.

“You’re thinking this can’t happen, but I assure you it will. People will lose their life savings and their retirement funding; foundations will lose the ability to fund projects for hospitals, colleges and charities; the nation will lose its innocence over the purpose of investing in Wall Street.”

Mark’s expression turned to one of exasperation.

“Now you’ve gone too far with your tales, Zachri. This must be a parable. I understand that many have been used to explain what human intelligence can’t easily grasp. Things like creating the world in seven days without explaining God’s concept of a day. Is your story a parable, Zachri?”

“No, Mark. This scheme really took place but over several years, not seven days.”

Even as he smiled at Zachri’s inclusion of his example, Mark was still stupefied by the story.

“How could so many reasonably intelligent people and organizations that should do their research have been cheated out of so much?”

“I offer four reasons consistent with what I argued earlier about the future of America:

“
Reason number one: People wanted to believe in the advantage of a fund which I will call Madowb (short for Made off With Billions) because it consistently posted slightly larger profits than almost any other investment.

“
You know, from your own experience with the stock market, that there is no such thing as consistency over long periods.
Yet, t
his aberration was hardly questioned because the apparent profit strength called out to the greed in investors.

“
Reason number two: Madowb initially did some things that were highly successful and gave him good press. People were in awe of his financial genius and feared retribution if they spoke out against this powerful man.

“
Reason number three: The man threw enough money and names around to make some very powerful friends, including many in Washington D.C.
Not surprisingly, regulatory changes during the two decades he was involved in illegal activities primarily aided his deceptive practices. Even though his companies were investigated during these years, the investigations never dug deep enough to uncover his Ponzi scheme.

“
Reason Number Four: Madowb, a Rotarian, primarily betrayed others in Rotary International. This was extraordinarily malevolent behavior, even for a criminal mind. People trusted him because he was one of them, because he served on nonprofit boards and donated money to charities, although not without accumulating eight hundred and twenty-three million dollars in personal assets.

“
What the news media wouldn’t tell the public was that the Madowb scheme had crumbled because the man behind it held back a portion of the profits promised to his benefactors.

“
Do you remember the Biblical story of Ananias and Sapphira? Well, Madowb didn’t die as soon as his lie had been exposed but he did get a hundred and fifty years in prison and did become an abomination to his family, so much so that one of his sons committed suicide.

“
The Madowb Fund’s impact on the economy of 2025 is difficult to measure, although the reasons he got away with it represent the dynamics responsible for what you’ve just witnessed.”

“I won’t know how to live in such a world! How can I be a good husband in those conditions? Zachri, tell me what to do to protect the people I love from such madness.”

Zachri inclined his head toward an area Mark hadn’t noticed before.

“There is one more group, a very tiny segment of the population, who are meeting in secret and trying to regain some of their rights. Observe them, Mark.”

Mark observed a room that looked almost like the attic in the pictures of Anne Frank’s hiding place, even with a bookcase that might have been their entryway. He and Zachri tuned in, just in time to hear a woman who seemed to be their leader ask:

“How can we follow in the footsteps of people who, in America’s early history, used courage and passion as a substitute for money and position?”

She started to read from a paper she had pulled from a folder. Every one of the eight people squeezed around the folding table had a similar folder in front of them. Mark gave Zachri a quizzical look.

“Why are they still using hard copy? Haven’t computers replaced paper and books by then?”

“You are observant, Mark and, yes, technology has replaced almost everything that was printed earlier in the century but privacy with computers is also a thing of the past. If this group and the few others in their network were to be found out, they’d be among the victims of a vaccine.”

Mark could make out what she was reading:

‘
When these common people, from black children who couldn’t use the swings in public parks to mothers deprived of their children in futile wars, could no longer endure the injustices ignored, or perpetrated, by their country’s leaders, they stepped out.  Violence was not their way to fight back. They joined together in unions and went on strikes; they boycotted businesses; they stood or marched en masse and their feet on the pavement drummed a new beat:  ‘Stop this!  We are no different than you. We deserve to live as humans, to be treated humanely, to be respected. ‘

The reader then reminded her group that w
hen enough of these citizens would no longer be victimized, they won new rights.”

Mark was surprised by what happened when she paused.

With no noticeable sign, the group began to chant lines from Ecclesiastes:

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work… though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.”

The chant produced a hypnotic effect on Mark. His mind returned to the question he’d recently asked
:
‘How do I protect the people I love?’

And
added a new one: ‘Have I lived my life in vain?

‘
Maybe this world I’ve just seen is merely a very bad dream
.
But then it could be my awakening. Emily Dickenson wrote that even if we help one robin to its nest, we have not lived in vain. Strangely, I remember a childhood dream of hitting a bird with a slingshot, but it was my imaginary friend, not me, who saved it.

‘
How do I know if the good I’ve done surpasses the harm? I admit to being guilty of bad decisions and selfish behaviors. What do I do about this? If I’m given another chance, I pledge to be mindful of how my actions, or inaction, affect the people around me. I will sacrifice all that I have if that’s what it takes to make my life worthy of redemption—for me and for those I love but please, let me live!’

In his narrow hospital bed, Mark still lay suspended between life and death.

Zachri awakened him from his reverie with a gentle tug on his shoulder and Mark instantly recognized the meaning of what he could see.

His son and daughter-in-law stood near his bed but today they were not alone, there were two other people present. The unknown woman was wearing the collar of a cleric and a man beside her was holding out a small vial. The woman took some oil from the vial and making the sign of the cross on Mark’s forehead, said a prayer. Mark could feel the pressure of her hands but could not make out her words. Was she giving him last rites or was it the sacrament of healing?

Immediately, he felt a deluge of waterless tears drenching his heart, reaching the core of his spirit. It felt to Mark like he had been conquered by an inexpressible force, one it seemed, without pity.

“Am I dead?”

Zachri explained carefully.

“You haven’t chosen yet. You have both pleaded to live and declared that you’d be willing to sacrifice all you have. It is your choice whether to live or to cross this day into eternity.”

“I don’t think there’s any need to debate those choices but, just for the record, where would I spend eternity? I always believed in a heaven and a hell. Isn’t it written somewhere that we must face judgment before the pearly gates are unlocked? So why are you saying I may choose?”

“Do you remember being the defendant in an Administrative Hearing during the time the pirates held your son and your company’s tanker?”

“I do remember! So that wasn’t just a dream but I was never informed of the Judge’s decision, even though you said it would be irrevocable. I assumed the verdict must have been favorable since my son and the rest of the crew were returned safely. Is there more?”

“Yes, the decision was affirmative and irrevocable, not because of your actions but because of what your defense revealed about your altered nature.”

“I’m truly grateful. It gives me something to look forward to. But I prefer to put off dying. Anyway, I think I can make Janie happier by being around as more than just a memory.”

“You’re suggesting you have the power to give her a good life? Certainly, you can give her moments of pleasure. What if I guaranteed that a quick look into the Beyond would address some of the holes in your argument?”

“Is it heaven you’re alluding to? From the little I’ve found on the subject, it’s a perfect retirement home, maybe too perfect. Doesn’t it get rather boring after a few hundred years?”

Zachri’s expression made his answer irrelevant.  His response was to shake his head slowly in the common gesture for no.
             

Mark felt that asking ‘Why not?’ would only reinforce Zachri’s argument for the visit so he changed his tactic.

“What evidence could you offer to convince me of a way back? Even ten more years of life would be worth the frequent pain and rarer joys. Janine needs what I can give; financial stability, health care insurance and opportunities to explore the world - all the things she currently does without. Most of all, I think she craves my love, although possibly not as much as I need hers.
             

“Mark, think about this: you’ve glimpsed the future she will be forced to live in. Living in it with you will not change what’s to come—collapse of the social order. Universal human rights will become only a memory, one that will make most of the world’s population wish for the good old days, even those who have known hardship intimately.”

“I get that. But if the future looks so wretched and if God is truly omnipotent, why doesn’t He prevent these things from happening?”

“Mark, you seem to want all human errors to be magically erased. Do you believe that, when your world gets too ugly, your Creator should just hit the “restart” button as you do in your video games?” 

“When you put it that way, it sounds like a rather childish suggestion: ‘don’t make us take responsibility for our actions.’”

“Very good! You explained Divine justice, but there is another facet to Divinity—love.  Love is visible in Divine intervention, in the spirit world connecting with yours. It will become clear; I promise! It can’t be fully understood until you take part. Be patient.”