11/23/2058

Dear reader,

Music. Strange how a simple, five-lettered word yields so much power in this uncanny society. History songs impart how children used to go to school and read books to learn information. Grandparents sing of a barbaric history where music held little importance. You must be confused by this muddled letter so perhaps I should start where all horrendous stories begin: The start. 

The year was 2035 and like all good children, my grandparents were in school filling their heads with useless mathematical formulas during the war. Grandfather always sings a rather depressing tune when describing the gray, run-down school that could not afford a proper auditorium or cafeteria since taxes went to the war funds. The Soviet Union, formerly known as Russia, had risen to more power due to their power in the American government under the presidency in 2020. Gaining enough information, funding, and political support, the Soviet Union had risen again and regained previously lost territories. Of course, the Soviet Union held its grudge against the U.S.A. and its allies over the Soviet downfall and plotted to take American territories and expand socialist ideologies across the ocean. It seems like something out of a horror music album authors publish these days, does it not?

The horrors of war are often too violent and gory to be sung to children. Yet parents sing it as lullabies to instill fear in young children who show the smallest interest in books and writing. Usually, these gory lullabies have rather depressing tunes and describe the bloodshed on both sides, hundreds of buildings collapsed due to bombings, and thousands of displaced children killed in cold blood by the Soviets to showcase their cruelty. Children close their eyes at night to be welcomed by horrifying images of children with their eyes scooped out and mothers trapped in collapsed buildings, drowned to their deaths by “accidental” floods. On March 6, 2043, Ian Potts, a native Russian angered by the Soviet Union’s audacity to harm children, smuggled secret information to the American intelligence via secret codes hidden in novels. Eventually, through the stubbornness of the American and British forces, and what many of the old consider to be “sheer dumb luck”, the secret codes gave the American and British forces an upper hand over the Soviets and led to their defeat. The destruction left in their wake left its impression upon the Americans and in 2047, on the third anniversary of the Soviet defeat, the government implemented Musicorumism.

As suggested by its name, Musicorumism is related to Socialism, and not at all at the same time. It is a new philosophy concerning language which states that music is the new form of culture. That is to say instead of written works and orally told stories, information and stories will be sung instead of written. Partially inspired by the classical novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, those caught with any books or written information in their houses were arrested and houses were lit on fire to set an example for those who dared defy the government. A I sit here in a barely lit, secret cave dug underneath my house, I, Lillian Rosalee, am practically sacrificing my entire life, my belongings, and my relationships to ensure the future generations understand the past. For you see, it is fear that has led society to become barbaric enough to ban something as inspiring, beautiful, and powerful as words. But it is the power they hold that ignites the flame of fire in one and spreads to others like a raging wildfire. Looking around my secretive cave, or as I have learned is called a library, the collection of my dusty, ratty old books, I keep hope that the future generation will have enough courage to stand and bring the old days of written language back into our culture. Until then, I shall continue to record noteworthy information that may change the future.

Lillian Rosalee