Entry #66

Enlightened
by J.C. Montgomery


Men have become the tools of their tools. Thoreau said that.

Rising slowly, feeling the groan of the metal beneath my feet, I think of man’s ascent from a lowly creature to an enlightened being. They say that man’s ability to make and use tools separates us from other species. But this is a lie. Tools don’t make us better, just lazy, and unable to think for ourselves.

Take this moving metal staircase. This was created to help us climb with little or no exertion. Taking the stairs would get you there just the same. But why make the effort if offered the luxury of having something do it for you.

Standing at the railing, I watch the masses ascend, moving like a herd of sheep, looking as if it is by their own volition, but in truth, they are being led by a need to keep moving - and climbing, seeking to reach a higher status than the others.

Men have become the tools of their tools: the implements by which others use us as a means of accomplishing something they want done, but won’t or can’t do themselves.

Pulling out the leaflets from my bag, I head back to the escalators and begin handing them out, hoping to find that one “sheep” more easily led than the rest, helping them find something they can’t find themselves, being that escalator that takes them to another level with little effort and an even smaller amount of thought.