God

GOD
WHEN GOD SAID, "Let there be light," a full one-third of the hosts of the other kingdom were rounded up and relocated into temporary housing--internment camps, really--given shovels, picks, hoes, and other tools, and immediately taken out to the fields for the task at hand. For six days they labored and did all the work--mostly under intolerable conditions: long, tedious hours; no pay; substandard housing; insufficient food; hazardous work situations; no benefits--an abominable situation. Unimaginable. The cost in human life at the Grand Canyon alone was staggering: tens of millions--crews toiling, often right up until they dropped. Construction on the Himalayan Plateau and the putting into motion the Continental Drift resulted in similar losses--untold loses. Unimaginable loses. And work on the great oceans, the lakes and rivers and valleys, the peaks, the deserts and jungles–-and language and math and science–-took a tremendous toll as well. Some wondered–-some questioned the wisdom of the excessive cost in terms of human suffering; but others, when they saw the beauty of the earth in all its glory and splendor, found justification in the use of slavery, and agreed with the supervisors that it was all worth the concerted effort in achieving the necessary light.