Ishmael: A Short Story

As I was in the taxi on my way to visit Ishmael, I was wondering what might I ask him. With so many possible topics I was struggling to find one that would be an appropriate use of my short time with him. As the taxi pulled up to the building in which his office resided an idea came into mind. I walked inside only to be greeted by a pane of glass with Ishmael on the other side. I sat down and looked intently at Ishmael.

He looked at me as if expecting me to start the conversation. So that is what I did.

“Over population is a major problem facing society today. Have you heard that recently China has removed it’s one child law?”

Ishmael stared at me and gave me a small nod, as if to acknowledge his understanding.

“Well my question to you is,

what does this show about the taker culture, including the need for such a law in the first place?”
Ishmael sat up from his reclined position, “I assume you are familiar with my philosophy regarding takers and leavers.”
I nodded.
“There is no doubt that the taker philosophy of having as many kids as desired or possible is harmful to the environment. Then, I ask you, why would the takers feel the need to pass a law limiting the growth of the population?”
I pondered his question for a minute, “Takers feel that the earth is meant to be ruled by them and they believe that they are above the cycle of the earth, rather than part of it.”
“Correct.” He said.

“Now consider this, takers can’t see the future well. If something is working currently, they will not look to the future to determine what the outcome might be. What would lead them to determine that they required a law to limit the growth of the population?”

“Well, as you just said, takers only look at the current situation so they must have understood that even with their advanced technology they could not sustain everyone who is alive.” Pausing for a moment to gather the rest of my thoughts, “They realized that they needed to limit their population because their acknowledged a flaw in their way of living.”

“Very good.” Ishmael responded, “Let me outline a situation, feel free to ask questions at any time. Two groups are living in adjacent villages. One group hunts, fishes, and gathers all of their food. The other has farms and raises livestock.”

Interrupting I say “So the fist village contained leavers and the second takers.”

Nodding his head he continues, “Both groups have the same population and begin to run out of food. What does each group

do?”
“Well the hunters and gatherers will stop having as many children because they understand that you can only have such a large population with the resources available to you.

The agricultural village will simply expand its farms to allow for more food and therefore allow for more population, a never ending cycle.”

“But what happens if they are next to a cliff and the only way they can expand is into the other villages

land?”
“Then I suppose they would take the land of the other village and try to force them to succumb to their way of living, event though in the end it will mean the destruction of them all.”
“Excellent. Great work today, I want to leave you with one more question. In the China example, the takers acknowledged that they had a problem with their population. What about this acknowledgement and their solution shows that they did not change their flawed cultural views, and will still remain takers?” Ishmael then reclined back in his chair, indicating that we were done for the day.
“I will go think on that. Thank you for your time, see you tomorrow.” And with that I got up and left to rerun tomorrow.
Leaving Ishmael’s office, I was ecstatic. I had covered so much in my little time being in his presence. I could not wait to go back later and discuss further. Thinking about the question he left me with I realized that although the takers realized that they needed to limit their population they were still flawed in their method of doing it. They still ignored the fact that they were living outside of their means and simply used a law to limit things. Takers require laws to tell them that they are proceeding down the one right path rather than accepting the many different sustainable methods of living, all shown to be effective by the remains leavers of the world. With this realization I went to the hotel and fell asleep.
I returned to the office building the next day, with my new ideas and thoughts in my head. As I entered the hallway that lead to Ishmael's office I noticed that something was different from the day before. The door to his office stood wide open, as I approached it I heard a voice from inside. As I rounded the corner of the door frame I noticed that someone else was inside the office communicating with Ishmael. I froze in the doorway, shocked that someone else had discovered the brilliance that was the gorilla. I waited in the doorway for a few minutes, discovering that the character in the room and Ishmael seemed happy to work together. Not wanting to disturb them, I left, never to return again. That was the last time that I had seen Ishmael. I later found out that he had been moved from his office, only to later perish at a carnival where he was being held. I never did find out who that other person was talking to Ishmael, I wonder if he will be able to save the world.